The Cat Cafés of Charlotte, North Carolina

This southern city has several cat cafés serving delicious drinks to the public while finding homes for homeless cats. This story has been updated with new information.

“Time spent with cats is never wasted” – Sigmund Freud

Cool Bean Cat Café, Gastonia

This cat café has existed for over four years, but at the beginning of this year the café changed owners and then changed locations. New owner and Gastonia native Jennifer Motes moved the café from a former office building on Main Street into another building only a few blocks away. However, this new building has much more charm and comfort for both the cats and their customers than the sterile office space they previously occupied.

Cool Beans Cat Cafe in Gastonia, North Carolina. Photo by Carrie Dow.

“It’s a cute building. I wanted to keep as much original stuff as we could,” said Motes.

Cool Beans is now in a small 1930’s colonial-style house not far from downtown Gastonia, about 30 minutes outside of Charlotte. Motes says that during her childhood, the building was a hair salon. Today the building’s white-picket front porch outside and the homey décor and seating inside beckons visitors to stay a while. And Motes says the new building has been the most wonderful for the cats.

“It feels more like a house for when they get adopted and it has lots of windows for them to look out of.”

However, the move to the new space wasn’t without issues. The day before the café’s grand re-opening, a burst pipe in the basement flooded the building’s first floor. The cats were fine, but the water ruined most of the furniture and destroyed the café’s expensive espresso machine. Motes replaced the furniture and the café counter with items from the Habitat for Humanity store along with donations from the café’s customers. However, she has not been reimbursed by her insurance company yet, so they are making do with two small kitchen counter-sized expresso machines. Not ideal, but until the insurance company makes her whole, the fancy espresso machine will have to wait. She’s been waiting on the insurance for several weeks now and set up a GoFundMe campaign for additional help. Considering she was new to the business, she was worried no one would contribute, however, the café’s regular customers have showed up to support her.

Aragorn is one of many friendly felines at Cool Beans Cat Cafe. He’s also available for adoption. Photo by Carrie Dow.

“I cried when I saw the GoFundMe. I love my customers. We’ve got so many regulars and I’m glad they stuck around.”

The new building is slightly smaller in square footage, so the NC Department of Agriculture reduced the number of cats they have from 11 to 9. Because of recent adoptions she had seven cats at the time of my visit. Motes works with NC Paws Cat Rescue out of Hickory, an organization that rescues special needs cats. Motes says many of the café’s cats have special medical needs or disabilities, making them harder to find forever families.

A meeting/work room outside of the cat area at Cool Beans. Photo by Carrie Dow.

Currently they have a cat missing an eye and another cat who is FIV positive and needs daily medication. However, both cats enjoy frolicking around the cat rooms and playing with their house mates. Motes says that cats with special needs can live long, happy lives with proper medical care. She enjoys teaching people about them and introducing these cats to customers.

“Even though they’ve got special needs, they’re still awesome, awesome cats.” Seeing how these cats thrive at the café makes it easier for them to get adopted.

Rates to spend time with the cats are $7 for 30 minutes and $10 for an hour. Motes believes these are some of the lowest cat café rates in the state.

“I try to keep our prices low. Everything is so uncertain right now,” she explained. “I want everyone to be able to come here and think this place is awesome.”

The cats are curious at Cool Beans Cat Cafe. Photo by Carrie Dow.

Motes says some of her regular customers don’t even spend time with the cats. Because of the café’s free wi-fi, they get a variety of area college students and work-from-home businesspeople who come in to work in a quiet, relaxing atmosphere while sipping a hot or cold beverage.

“We have a regular who gets his drinks and goes in (the front meeting room) and does his work.” She adds the college kids treat themselves to “cat time” when their tests and studying are over.

The café offers a variety of hot and cold beverages. Coffee and espresso drinks are made with beans roasted by local roasting company Jade & Elise Obsidian Coffee of Belmont. They also offer Italian sodas, specialty teas, smoothies, and a selection of baked goods. She hopes to add frozen drinks to the menu soon, but doesn’t have any freezer yet (because of lack of response from the insurance company).

The café also sells art from local artists and hosts cat-themed events. Currently, they have been hosting monthly Meowditations, a relaxing evening of sound bath bowls and meditation. Motes says the cats love the vibrations from the sound bowls and try to sit in them while they are being played. See the café’s Facebook page for information on special events.

Motes says that she hopes Cool Beans becomes a community gathering space.

“I want everybody to feel welcome here,” she explained. “Not only help animals, but people too. I want people to come here and if you need a place to chill, you can chill. If you need a place to study, study. If you need a therapy cat, have at it! It’s our own little happy place.”

https://www.facebook.com/coolbeansgastonia/

Mac Tabby Cat Café - NoDa

Mac Tabby is the pet project (see what I did there?) of Lori Konawalik who opened the café in Charlotte’s ultra-cool NODA (North Davidson) neighborhood in 2019, a residential area filled with quirky and unique restaurants, bars, art galleries, and shops. The café is located upstairs in an almost 100-year-old brick building. Mac Tabby has a urban loft feel with multiple windows to let light in the lounge and the cafe has a set of windows up front with bar seating that overlook the bustling street.

Mac Tabby Cat Café overlooks North Davidson Street (NoDa). Photo by Carrie Dow.

Kayty Harrelson, Café Manager, says the residents come from Catering to Cats and Dogs Rescue and they house about 12 cats at a time. While they prefer guests make a reservation in advance, they do allow drop-in guests if there is room, otherwise guests will have to wait until someone leaves the lounge before going in.

During my visit a man worked on a laptop at a corner high-top table. He had to shoo a curious feline from pawing his computer screen. A mother and daughter sat on low chairs in the opposite corner. The daughter used some toys to keep two cats entertained. While we humans social distance, Mac Tabby’s cats go wherever they want, including jumping up on the table to sniff the contents of my coffee cup.

After my time was up, I sat in the café side to finish my beverage. The mother and daughter also moved there, mom pulling out a laptop and the daughter settling on a bean bag chair to read a book. I asked Harrelson if people use the space often as a workspace and she said all the time. She said the café had excellent wifi and anyone was welcome to hang out with a hot or cold beverage and work, even if they don’t visit the cats.

Spending quality time in the cat lounge at Mac Tabby Cat Café. Photo by Carrie Dow.

If you should decide a Mac Tabby feline needs to become a part of your family, you can put in an application with Mac Tabby in person or on their website. The adoption fee is $155 and the entire amount goes to the animal rescue.

“We don’t profit off the adoptions at all,” says Harrelson. “That includes a medical recovery fee because all of our cats are already spayed or neutered, vaccinated and microchipped. Basically, if your application gets approved, the rescue takes it over from there.” Mac Tabby has adopted 2,067 cats since they started.

Cost to visit the cat lounge at Mac Tabby is $12 per person for one hour for ages 7 and up and everyone must sign a waiver before entry. The café also offers a rent-the-room rate where up to 10 guests can have the cat lounge all to themselves for $95. Mac Tabby also has special times reserved for families with kids younger than seven twice per month. Visit the website for more information or to reserve a spot.

Mac Tabby Cat Café now has three locations: The original location in Charlotte’s NODA neighborhood, and two new locations, one in downtown Concord and another in downtown Salisbury. Both cities are located northwest of Charlotte on I-85.

Humane Society of Charlotte

This animal shelter offers a small retail and coffee shop next to a work/meeting space near the entrance to the building’s lobby in Charlotte. The rescue selects one to three of their adoptable cats to roam in the separate workspace with floor to ceiling windows where guests can work, meet up with friends, or visit with the cats. There is no charge to enter the space, but they offer beverages, snacks, and merchandise for sale in a retail shop next to the workspace with the money going back to the shelter.

The retail center has coffee drinks, sweet and salty snacks, and variety of pet toys and accessories for sale including collars, leashes, carriers, toys, training treats, and even dog and cat costumes. There are also t-shirts supporting the shelter for sale.

The cat cafe is open Sunday – Thursday from 11AM – 5PM and Friday and Saturday from 11AM – 6PM.

Retail Center and Cat Café | Humane Society of Charlotte

“The smallest feline is a masterpiece” – Leonardo da Vinci

Editor’s Notes: Daily Mews permanently closed in 2024.