Nine Lives Cat Café will be located at 1315 Shelby Street, Suite 1 in Indianapolis.
ninelivesindy.com
Indianapolis will soon be the "purrfect" location to go for coffee and cats.
Selena Hubbard and her father, Eric, are opening Nine Lives Cat Café in the Indianapolis neighborhood of Fountain Square – about an hour drive from Ball State's campus.
It'll be the first of its kind in Indianapolis.
Traditionally, cat cafés allow customers to watch and play with felines throughout the restaurant. There might be a cover fee, generally hourly, which makes cat cafés almost a form of supervised indoor pet rental.
But at Nine Lives, customers will also be able to adopt cats.
Hubbard had heard of and seen cat cafés in other countries, dating back to Taiwan in 1998, and decided to open one with her dad. In America, they're a relatively new attraction. The first American cat café opened in Oakland, California, in 2014 and since then have become more popular.
By using the customer service skills she previously learned by working as a Starbucks barista, Hubbard will make and serve coffee, tea, hot chocolate, smoothies and pastries at Nine Lives.
“I actually have loved cats my whole life," she said. "I also love coffee, so the combination I just like, and also [the chance to] be able to give more cats an opportunity to find homes in Indianapolis."
In 2013, the Human Society of Indianapolis reported nearly 18,000 stray cats and dogs were in government-owned facilities, with too few being adopted. Hubbard hopes to help more cats find homes in the Indianapolis area.
“The zip code we’re located in … provides a ton of stray cats to the shelters, so even though those stray cats aren’t going straight to us, it’s kind of cool that a place that has a lot of stray cats is also giving more of an opportunity to adopt cats," she said.
Hubbard has talked to local shelters who are on board with the café, and the café will have an open roaming room for the cats in a separate area from where the food and drinks will be prepared in order to comply with health codes.
Sophomore psychology major and Indianapolis resident Adrianna McCorkle had never heard of a cat café, but said she will definitely visit Nine Lives.
“I was super excited when I found out one was coming,” McCorkle said. “I foresee it offering not only the benefit of entertainment, but also supplying positive psychological effects in those who utilize it.”
Haleigh Pickett, an incoming freshman sports administration major, had also never heard of a cat café but plans to visit the new coffee shop.
“I would visit the one in Indy because I love coffee and animals, and that just sounds like a really good way to de-stress from school,” Pickett said. “When I found out one was coming, I thought it would be a really cool thing, and it's making me even more excited to move to Indiana since I'm from out of state.”
Construction on the building is currently underway, and an opening date and hours will be announced soon. Hiring will take place around three weeks before the café opens.
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