WILMETTE, Ill. — Who says you can’t go home again? Certainly not John O’Donnell.

Last weekend, the founder of Johnnie-O opened a men‘s store in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette, Ill., a short distance from where he grew up. The boutique, in the historic Plaza del Lago, is the brand’s 23rd unit overall and the seventh to open this year. Three additional stores are slated to open before year’s end in Naples and Delray, Fla., as well as Austin. The Charleston, S.C., store will relocate to King Street, that city’s most important shopping stretch.

By the end of this year, the company will have 26 stores in operation, 13 of which opened since last August. Other new additions include Watersound, Fla.; Bethesda, Md.; Hingham, Mass., and Alpharetta, Ga.

Since O’Donnell, a former UCLA golfer, founded Johnnie-O 20 years ago in Santa Monica, Calif., with a four-button pocket polo sporting the logo of a surfer, the company has grown significantly, offering a full line of men’s, women’s and boys’ apparel and accessories. It also has licenses with all 32 NFL teams, more than 200 colleges and sponsors professional golfers Jake Knapp and J.T. Poston and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.

Although privately held, the company said it has posted double-digit sales growth in 19 of the past 20 years. In June of this year, sales were up 46 percent over the same month last year.

O’Donnell said he had always hoped the company could be this successful, but attributed its growth to the appointment of former Peter Millar cofounder Chris Knott as chief merchandising officer in 2016.

“That was the life-changing moment,” O’Donnell said, admitting: “I’m more of a sales and marketing guy. But I hire people a lot smarter than me.”

Although O’Donnell experienced a “frenzy” of interest for that first polo shirt, it wasn’t until Knott brought in his design skills and retail relationships that the brand truly took off.

“He put us into overdrive,” O’Donnell said.

The founder also admitted he was skeptical about the plan to open Johnnie-O stores.

“I was apprehensive,” he said. “It’s a commitment and if you don’t do it right, it can be a black eye.”

But his fears were allayed when the stores proved to be the right vehicle to showcase the brand. In fact, e-commerce sales grow by 20 percent on average in every market where a store opens.

“A store is one of the places the whole brand comes to life,” said Matt Ferrer, president of Johnnie-O. “Customers can feel the fabrics, see the collections side by side and experience Johnnie-O the way it’s meant to be experienced. That connection is good for our customers and good for our business. The markets where we show up in person are the ones growing fastest across every channel, which is why we’re excited to keep expanding in communities like Wilmette and retail destinations like Plaza del Lago.”

To celebrate the Wilmette opening, O’Donnell invited friends and family.

“This is really a marriage of Johnnie-O the brand and lifelong friends,” he said. “The place was filled with people I’ve known for 50 years, from grade school and high school. It was like going to a reunion or a wedding. The Midwest has always been part of Johnnie-O’s DNA. It’s where the grit in our story comes from. Opening our first store here on the North Shore, in a place I know like the back of my hand, just feels right. This isn’t just another pin on the map for us. It’s personal.”

The store offers the brand’s signature polos as well as its Top Shelf elevated collection, Club performance golf line and Coffee Run activewear as well as boyswear.

Plaza del Lago, on the North Shore of Lake Michigan, was built nearly 100 years ago and recently moved upscale. It now includes stores from Thom Browne, Hermès, LoveShackFancy, Lilly Pulitzer, Peter Millar, Oscar de la Renta and Zimmermann.