TORONTO- The Hells Angels have opened a retail store in Toronto, just minutes away from the location of a former clubhouse.
The store is called 81— “8” for the eighth letter in the alphabet “H” and “1” for “A”. Together they form HA, the acronym for Hells Angels.
Only members are allowed to wear items with “Hells Angels” or “HA” on them, but 81 is allowed by the group.
WATCH: National Post reporter kicked out of new Hells Angels store.
Items for sale in the shop include clothing, mugs and other forms of memorabilia- many of which sport the slogan “Support 81”.
The store, located in the Leslieville neighbourhood at 98 Carlaw Avenue, also has a website where online purchases can be made.
A message on the site explaining the toll the raid and subsequent trials had on the group: “They took everything we owned and put us on trial. The expense was and still is enormous. They did their best to destroy us,” reads a message on the new store’s website.
“We are still fighting for our clubhouse.”
While accessible earlier in the day, the online store as well as the entire Toronto chapter website appears to be offline. A placeholder left by the site’s hosting provider, iPage, says that the page is ‘temporarily unavailable’. It is unclear why the site is currently down.
The Hells Angels former clubhouse, located at 498 Eastern Avenue, has not been occupied by the group since a police raid nearly 6 years ago. It was officially forfeited just over a year ago.
Earlier in the year, some of the personal items seized in the raid were returned to the group after a court ruling.
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