3 days ago
New booklet maps Richmond's shop cats
Richmond's shop cats are finally getting their due.
Why it matters: Between the coming-soon cat cafe, Francine getting the spotlight treatment by Lowe's corporate, and the Fan District cat tour last fall, RVA seems to be becoming a cat town.
State of play: Business Cats RVA, a guide dedicated to Richmond shop cats, dropped last week.
The initiative includes an Instagram account, a printed booklet featuring a dozen Richmond shop cats, a map of where you can find them, and bios of the kitties.
Among them: Buzzball, the "patron saint" of Fuzzy Cactus restaurant — despite the fact that he can be "a bit temperamental," per the guide — and Cricket, the "Queen Bee" of Sneed's Nursery.
Zoom in: A trio of VCU graphic design students — Angie Michelsen, Imani Tigney and Dani Pantalone — created Business Cats RVA for a student project last semester and decided to make it public.
Their goal: Share the love and stories of local shop cats with all of Richmond.
They printed 50 copies of the booklets to start, which are now gone but available at the local shops where the felines linger.
Locals can get a stamp for each cat they meet at the shops.
What they're saying: "We were so happy with how it came out and all the excitement we got from the businesses we interviewed that we wanted to put it out in the community," the group said in a statement.
