The proprietor of Cat’s Meow in downtown Santa Cruz will shutter its doorways completely with plans to take the store to Las Vegas. (Aric Sleeper/Santa Cruz Sentinel)
SANTA CRUZ — After three years nestled away on Lincoln Street in downtown Santa Cruz — throughout the road from the lately shuttered Cafe GSC — classic clothes store, Cat’s Meow, will shut its Santa Cruz storefront in mid-December.
Owner of Cat’s Meow, Melinda Collis, informed the Sentinel that when she talks to individuals concerning the retailer’s closing, most ask her if it was due to excessive lease, however she stated that the lease for the storefront was reasonably priced and the owner was a pleasure to work with. She stated it was plenty of different components that cemented her resolution to pack up all of the second-hand inventory corresponding to fur coats, fencing helmets and oh so many hats, amongst a mess of different fascinating objects, and transfer all of it to Las Vegas.
“It was August when I decided we were pulling the plug,” stated Collis. “Ultimately, we decided to move outside of California.”
Around 2008, Collis left her profession in banking and opened Cat’s Meow, with encouragement from her family and friends, in Monterey the place it operated for 12 years.
“I wouldn’t consider myself fashionable by any means,” stated Collis. “I just knew what I liked ,and always had a knack for sizing and dressing folks and knowing what will work well for them. All my friends could see that in me and that’s how Cat’s Meow got started.”
The retailer’s first life in Monterey got here to an finish when the possession of the building that the store was housed in modified fingers. The new homeowners deliberate to transform the spot on Lighthouse Avenue in Monterey and maintain Cat’s Meow on the bottom ground, however the deal fell by means of and Collis was pressured to maneuver.
“We were actually already in the process of looking for a second location, and that’s when the pandemic hit,” stated Collis. “We looked into moving to several other locations in Oregon and Utah but then the Santa Cruz location came up and it was much more reasonable than some of the others.”
In 2020, Collis signed a three-year lease for the industrial area on Lincoln Street and for the primary two years, business was good. Collis talked about that when she initially opened, there have been much less related classic clothes shops downtown.
“In the beginning it was great,” stated Collis. “There were just a few of us like Moon Zoom and Cognito, and perhaps Goodwill. Then there was an onslaught of other vintage stores within blocks that were allowed to open up. It was kind of like opening up ten doughnut shops near each other, and unless you have a police academy next door, the market becomes oversaturated.”
WIth the opening of different classic and second-hand clothes retailers downtown within the final couple of years, Collis stated she misplaced about 70% of her gross sales and that was one of many major causes she determined to not renew her three-year lease.
There have been different components too that influenced her resolution, such because the frequent vandalism to close by storefronts downtown, as Cafe GSC throughout the road skilled when its home windows have been lately smashed in. She talked about the rising presence of individuals loitering on the sidewalk and avenue round Lincoln Street and Pacific Avenue within the final couple of years, which probably deters consumers from trying out the sidestreet.
“It’s hard to walk outside of the door past five o’clock,” stated Collis. “I just don’t know if I see downtown getting any better. I think it will go downhill much further before it starts to go back uphill.”
Collis stated that she has additionally seen tourism drop downtown lately and that people who she chats with who do dwell within the metropolis and county, say they don’t come to downtown Santa Cruz as a result of it feels unsafe.
“I think that city management could really try and focus on getting locals down here,” stated Collis. “And we need more policing.”
When she tells different native business homeowners about all the explanations she determined to maneuver her classic clothes store to Las Vegas, Collis stated that they specific related frustrations and see the potential advantages of organising store elsewhere.
“They’re in the same thought process that it may be best to leave,” stated Collis. “What’s happening to me is happening to everybody and that’s why I felt that we had to adapt quickly. Because once you start touching your savings, you’re done”
Collis is stoked for Cat’s Meow’s subsequent life in Las Vegas and likewise seems to be ahead to focusing extra on her window show design work. She talked about that she has already locked down a three-bedroom home there and that it even has a storage.
“I am excited for the future,” stated Collis. “Santa Cruz may have taken one of our lives, but it can’t take all eight.”
