North America’s first “cat café”, Le café des chats, will open its doors to the public this coming Saturday. The concept first emerged in Japan in 1998 but it wasn’t until 2012 that it began to spread throughout Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
New York City had a few pop-up cafés open for a few days this winter, but Montréal will be the first city in the Americas to host a year-round permanent kitty establishment.
Similar cafés will soon be opening in Vancouver, Toronto, Portland, San Diego, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Hawaii and many many other cities. Though Montréalers will be a fortunate lot with two cafés to choose from, as Café Chat L’Heureux will also be opening in the coming weeks.
I was lucky enough to get a sneak-peak look at the Café this past Monday and meet its eight resident felines.
Here are some of their faces.
Le café des chats will be open 10am-10pm as of Saturday, August 30th. They are located at 3435 St. Denis.