Bellingham’s first cat cafe is ready to open in downtown. Here are the details
For those anxiously waiting to hang out with cats at downtown Bellingham’s newest cafe, your first chance is Valentine’s Day.
The Neko Cafe announced on social media and on its website that it is now taking reservations for visits to the cat room. The cat room opens at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, but that entire day is already booked, along with much of Saturday, according to Neko’s website on Wednesday morning.
The cafe is at 1130 Cornwall Ave., next to the Trek bicycle shop. Neko’s Bellingham cafe has 26 cats from the Whatcom Humane Society and all are available for adoption.
The bar of the cafe is in the cat room, offering drinks including coffee and beer but no wine because of permit restrictions, said Leah Fishbaugh, marketing coordinator. There is a separate area where customers can order from a window and enjoy food and drink at a separate seating area.
The company has a similar cafe in downtown Seattle. Caitlin Unsell, who graduated from Western Washington University, is the founder of Neko.
Ever since announcing that they were coming to Bellingham last year, Fishbaugh said they were consistently messaged 3-5 times a week inquiring about the opening date. Since the opening date announcement on Tuesday, they’ve been inundated with reservation requests. She noted that the Bellingham cat room is bigger than Seattle’s space and can handle 25 people at a time, so she thinks people will be able to more easily find available bookings after the initial opening days.
Spending 50 minutes in the cat room will cost $10 per person. Children under the age of 13 must be accompanied by an adult. There must be one adult for every two children under 10 years old in the cat room, according to Neko’s website.
Once open, hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, an hour later on Friday and Saturday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Sunday.
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 6:13 PM.
