Lydia Glenn

News Editor

lmg5921@psu.edu

The Purrista Cat Café is one of Erie’s newest spots and its first ever cat cafe. The Cat Café opened on February 14, Valentine’s Day, as a way of shifting peoples focus to cats and adoption. 

Owner Dena Rupp, an Erie native, wanted to start a cat café in her hometown after traveling the world and seeing other cat cafes. 

When I sat down with Rupp and asked her exactly why she wanted to start the cat café and what her inspiration was, she said, “I just love animals.” She went on to say that she grew up with animals all her life, and her mother was and still is a huge cat lover, and that had a major impact on her. 

“Animals are a part of your family, they help you through so much,” she stated. She portrayed that she herself deals with mental health issues but that her pets are always there to lead her through a tough time. She said that in her experience, her animals just have a way of soothing her and she wanted to create that experience for anyone who was also going through a tough time and needed animal therapy.

The concept to create this cat café was in the works for about four years. The four years included a lot of planning and a lot of trial and error with designs, ideas etc. When she finally decided what the path for her café was going to be, that is when everything came to fruition. 

There were certain details Rupp knew she needed in her cat café. For one, she knew that rather than just having cats there, she wanted all the cats to be adoptable. 

Rupp partnered with a local shelter called Because You Care to make this idea of adoption feasible. This partnership would allow for her to smoothly run a café without having to be the person also dealing with adoption applications and so on. 

Because You Care will be taking care of all adoptions, making the process as a whole much smoother for the cats and the adoptive families. 

Rupp also knew that she needed a space where there were two available storefronts side by side. She happened upon a spot right off of State Street in Erie and very close to Gannon University which made the location perfect. 

She told me she definitely wanted to be in downtown Erie because that is really where the heart of a city is. 

Rupp also mentioned in the interview that she “wanted to bring something cool to Erie” and thought the cat café was it. She also wanted her business to be “a different kind of thing to do.” Erie does have a fair number of businesses, but none even similar to Rupp’s. The opportunity for her to bring this fairly recent idea of a cat café to Erie was ideal.

Although the cat café industry is fairly new to the United States, animal cafes are not few and far between in countries like Taiwan and Japan. 

Taiwan was actually the first country to invent a cat café, and it took off from there. Japan then adopted the idea and created other animal cafes as well. From there, California has opened multiple cat cafes and it has just spread. 

Rupp actually first thought of this idea when she was living in Korea and teaching English. She said that all the different cafes and just the café culture in general was so inspiring and made her want to start one like it in her hometown.  

Rupp also worked in the café industry for a while and said she loved the culture and the vibes that surrounded it.

Although Rupp’s background is not in business, she just knew that she always wanted to own a business. 

When I asked her background and how she came to this point she said that she actually went to college at Edinboro University for graphic design. Even though her degree was in graphic design, it did not stop her from pursuing her dreams of owning a business. 

Since the opening, Rupp still has a full-time job utilizing her degree. Her goals of owning a business did not stop her from also fulfilling her want to obtain a job in graphic design and printing. 

Rupp stated that opening the café was something she really strived for and now it is here and open. 

The Purrista Cat Café is now open to the public! 

To visit the cats in the cat café, you must go online to make an appointment. The cost for an hour is $15, but that money is used to feed, water and keep the cats in good health. 

Making an appointment is also essential because it is important to not overwhelm the cats and to keep the atmosphere calm. So, only 15 people at a time are allowed in on behalf of the cats.

The café is always open, and no appointment is needed to stop in and grab a coffee or delicious pastry. 

All pastries are from local businesses around the Erie area, and the coffee that Rupp uses is her own that she made in collaboration with another local business. 

Rupp also relayed to me that she has had so much help from the community and that she is “very thankful for the number of volunteers.” 

Anyone that wants to volunteer is more than welcome, and volunteer applications can be turned in through Because You Care animal shelter. 

Rupp worked strenuously to create this new and exciting venture and it is exciting to see this now coming to a city that is maybe not so up to date with the rest of the world. 

So, stop in to Purrista Cat Café for coffee, pastries, cat therapy and even cat adoption. The cats will be waiting.