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A Laguna Beach storefront has lost a purring tenant amid the pandemic.
Catmosphere Laguna, Orange County’s first cat cafe, closed this weekend after coronavirus restrictions made it impossible to make ends meet, owner Gail Allyn Landau said.
The cafe and lounge where guests could play with adoptable cats and kittens opened in August 2018.
It wasn’t that cat lovers lost interest in cuddling the mellow residents of the cafe – demand remained high until the end – there just wasn’t enough space for visitors to distance themselves. safely, Landau said.
“I’m sorry to see it disappear, trust me – the happiest place in the world,” she said. “But I just can’t afford it at this point with the COVID restrictions.”
Once able to accommodate 12 people, Landau said a capacity limit reduced the company’s coffee area to just four customers. The lounge, which could seat 10 people, was also limited to four people due to coronavirus restrictions.
Catmosphere has hosted big-draw events before, including the weekly Drag Bingo, which Landau cited as a boon to the company. These gatherings, in which participants could be wrapped like sardines, had to be put on the shelves.
Ironically, demand for cat adoptions has skyrocketed during the pandemic. And the numbers also increase during the holiday season, Landau said.
In the midst of a final surge on Friday and “Caturday,” as the cafe posted a Facebook post, the cafe celebrated its 195th adoption.
Landau said closing the business would not prevent it from connecting the rescued felines to their “forever homes.” The eponymous adoption foundation launched by Landau in 2017 will continue to operate.
“COVID has brought so many people in search of companions,” Landau said. “People were working from home and suddenly their lifestyle was different.”
As of March, the cafe had 16 cats available for adoption. They were encouraged and adopted “immediately,” Landau said.
This demand has not subsided. Before the pandemic, Catmosphere placed about one cat per week. Now he up three more times.
Those looking to adopt through Catmosphere must complete an application and undergo a home interview and check-up with the aim of matching the right cat with the right home. The method, which Landau swears, continues during the pandemic with some tweaks. Home checks, for example, are now carried out virtually.
“I’m a meow matchmaker,” she joked.
Even as the curtain falls and the tails are swept away elsewhere, a new chapter is brewing.
Catmosphere could reopen in a new location in the spring. Landau said she has already started the screening process and is matching the relaunch with when a generalized vaccine might be available.
In the meantime, those interested in adoptions – or non-binding hugs – can look for pop-up events that Landau says are scheduled for the next few months.
Catmosphere isn’t the only cat cafe forced to pivot amid the pandemic. Crumbs and Whiskers, in the Fairfax neighborhood of Los Angeles, is temporarily closed “due to COVID-19,” according to its Yelp page. It is planned to reopen on the first of the new year.
Other sites are also adapting. CatCafe Lounge in West Los Angeles remains open, even though it has halved its capacity and implemented other safety measures required by the LA County Department of Health.
“Which means fewer people and more one-on-one time,” according to the cafe’s website.
CatCafe Lounge has also deployed a ‘catio’, where customers can spend time with what the cafe calls ‘kittos’ in an outdoor environment.
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