For so long as she will keep in mind, Holly Walker has been a cat person. She recollects caring for the various strays who hung round her household’s home as a baby. Then, just a few years again, Walker visited a cat café throughout a piece journey to Minneapolis.
“I really liked it,” Walker stated. “I thought it was really cool and so, I thought, ‘Well my kids like cats, too. When I get back home, we’ll go to a cat café. It’d be something fun to do,’ and then I started realizing there was nothing like that anywhere around here.”
Last yr, Walker introduced plans to open River Kitty Café. The business – located at 3226 N. University St. in Peoria – plans to open its doorways to the neighborhood on March 9.
The journey to opening has been lengthy and difficult at occasions. Despite this, Walker is raring to share the expertise with Peoria and is happy to assist the café’s feline associates discover households of their very own.
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Wrestling with ‘regulations and red tape’
River Kitty Café marks Walker’s first expertise opening and working a business in Peoria. She works as an area math instructor throughout the day.
Early on, Walker stated she questioned if opening a cat café was even attainable in Peoria. Maybe, she thought, there was a cause such a business didn’t exist. She contacted the Peoria City/County Health Department to debate the well being codes she would wish to comply with – including that the employees was “amazingly helpful” all through the method.
Walker additionally linked with the Small Business Development Center at Bradley University for steerage on beginning a business and visited One Stop Shop conferences provided by town of Peoria.
“My desire is to work with the city to get this place open,” she stated.
Doing so, nonetheless, was not at all times straightforward – particularly as a brand new business proprietor. She stated the “biggest hurdle” forward of opening was navigating “all the regulations and red tape.”
Walker requested if somebody from town might go to the building to debate renovations and rules along with her. The well being division had despatched a employees member out after she made an analogous request.
According to Walker, nonetheless, town of Peoria informed her: “That is not a service we provide.”
The One Stop Shop brings collectively employees members from the hearth division, neighborhood improvement, public works and different departments and companies for steerage and suggestions on such initiatives. While Walker attended these conferences, she stated determining all the proper inquiries to ask was a problem.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” she stated.
Walker stated she understood among the necessities – equivalent to having work accomplished by licensed people. Navigating all of the codes and deciphering what utilized to her proved to be tough, although.
For instance, Walker stated she didn’t understand that she couldn’t use extension cords or that the exit indicators wanted to be lit. So, she wanted to make numerous changes forward of opening.
Aside from navigating rules for the primary time, Walker stated the allowing course of took considerably longer than anticipated. She thought the assessment course of would take round two weeks.
In the tip, although, she stated it took 16 weeks to obtain the permits she wanted.
“This is my livelihood,” Walker stated. “So, if I am paying rent and utilities on a building and leasing equipment and things like that, but I don’t have customers in here. It’s coming from my pay, you know, it’s coming from my day job.”
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‘The goal is to find these cats homes’
Despite the assorted challenges, Walker remained dedicated to opening River Kitty Café.
“I believe in this business. I want this to open. I want it to be successful,” Walker stated. “And the whole goal is not for me to get rich. The goal is to find these cats homes.”
River Kitty Café hosts adoptable cats from Peoria County Animal Protection Services. Walker stated the cat lounge can accommodate as much as 10 cats at a time however added that she works with PCAPS to make sure every of the cats are snug within the area.
Inside the business, the cat lounge is separated from the café space.
Customers can reserve hourlong visits for the cat lounge – which might host as much as 10 individuals at a time. Reservations are listed for $12 on the business’s web site, and Walker stated company who enter the lounge should be not less than 7 years old. She stated guests will be capable of carry their drinks into the lounge.
A viewing window within the café will even permit prospects to look at the cats with out coming into the lounge.
In the café, Walker stated the business will serve espresso merchandise from Kitty Town Coffee – which is able to donate a portion of its proceeds again to PCAPS.
“Not only is coming here and spending time in the cat lounge helpful for PCAPS, but also purchasing the coffee is too,” she stated.
‘People have been waiting for this’
Already, Walker stated individuals have begun to specific curiosity in adopting cats housed at River Kitty Café.
Since asserting plans to carry a cat café to the realm, she stated “the response was overwhelming.”
“I mean, people have been waiting for this,” she stated. “People love animals. They love these animals. They believe in the mission of PCAPS the same way I do, and so it’s just been really nice to see.”
A Facebook put up that introduced the opening acquired over 330 reactions and greater than 100 shares. A GoFundMe for the business has raised over $2,700 thus far, and as of March 6, a number of time slots for the cat lounge have been totally booked.
And regardless of the difficulties forward of opening, Walker stated she stays excited to carry the idea to Peoria, as properly.
“It didn’t really feel complete until there were cats here,” she stated. “(PCAPS) brought me three cats at first, and actually seeing the cats in the space, and knowing the amount of work that I put into making this inviting for them, and seeing how they are using the scratching posts. They’re playing. The litter boxes are being utilized … just seeing a lot of my hard work actually be beneficial for the animals has been nice. So, lets me know that I’m on the right track.”
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