Have you ever been sat in a cafe and thought that there was something missing that would just make it purrfect? Do you think this could have been a cat? Maybe these cat cafes are for you.
Believe it or not, cat cafes are becoming increasingly popular, with the main appeal to them being the cats. The notion behind it is that people essentially rent a cat out for their time in the cafe, people can cuddle and stroke with cats – for a price.
These niche cafes started in Taiwan in 1998 with the very simple but rather genius idea that people would pay to have a bit of cat time whilst have a coffee and a bite to eat. The idea was soon adopted by people all over the world, and to this day cat cafes are still a favourite for cat lovers to visit.
New York has a cat cafe, named Meow Parlor, the cafe charges $4 for a thirty-minute visit, as well as buying a drink or snack of their choice. Visitors can use this time however they want, not all of them even cuddle or stroke the cats, they simply like the feline company which no other cafe has. One thing can be sure, they all have a common interest in cats. This common interest can also lead to conversations between the other visitors and new relationships being formed.
Oakland, Calfornia also has a popular cat cafe called Cat Town. This one was actually America’s first ever cat cafe, the whole place is filled with every breed of cat, you can see them peering out the window, sprawling over the furniture and playing with people. They look so cute and attract so many people.
Moving to the UK, where London has its very own cat cafe, fittingly named Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium. The aim of this cafe is to chill out all the stressed London locals who are always just too busy. Lady Dinah gives a ninety-minute session with the cats, hoping that the therapeutic side to stroking cats will calm them down.
These cat cafes are all over the world from Taiwan, Canada, Paris, America and many more. They are all extremely popular as you can probably imagine. The idea of a cat cafe isn’t as crazy as it might seem, cats are so popular (you only have to check out how many views a cat video has on youtube to see that) and so creating a cat cafe is actually a smart business move.
These cafes often have more than one purpose too, which is usually some form of adoption store or charity. These cafes often hope that customers will fall in love with one of their cats and adopt it. All the cats will be vaccinated, neutered or spayed and are just waiting for somebody to adopt them.
Would you ever visit a cat cafe, or maybe even open up your own cat cafe?