Grab a coffee, adopt a cat: Rock Hill’s new cat cafe has feline furbabies who need homes
There’s a soft yet fervent energy at the Purrfect Pair Cat Cafe on Wednesday afternoon.
AJR’s 3 AM softly plays in the background. A dozen cats softly stride or lie about the cat lounge, with the most daring and social weaving around and inquisitively booping the legs or feet of any new or returning entrant with their nose or tail. Kids softly but animatedly tell their parents about the cats they or their friends want to adopt.
It’s the kind of environment that store owner Inga Carey has always wanted to create after a sad period in her life, and the Michigan native has achieved just that.
“I’m just really excited to give back to my community and help cats in a unique way,” Carey said. “My parents passed away in 2020 and 2021, and I wanted to be able to give back to the community after that sad time.”
Purrfect Pair Cat Cafe will be hosting its grand opening on Saturday, May 25, starting at 10 a.m. It’s a realization of a goal Carey has been working toward since early last year.
Helping the Humane Society
Carey has always loved cats. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the India Hook Elementary music teacher fostered cats from the Humane Society of York County and even adopted one of the cats, who is named Tipper because she’s missing the tip of her tail.
With the overpopulation of cats in the Rock Hill area, Carey wanted to help the Humane Society save more cats and put them in loving homes.
So Carey, along with best friend and general manager Kallie Cromer, came up with Purrfect Pair, a cafe where people can interact with cats from the Humane Society in a separate cat lounge.
The store is located where the Healthy Pets Spay and Neuter off Cherry Road used to be.
Why Rock Hill?
“Well, in York County, the Humane Society is in Fort Mill, and the York County Animal Services is in York,” Carey said. “I thought we needed someplace here in Rock Hill where people who have a love of cats could connect and form a community other than at the pet aisle at Target.”
Carey said she has received a lot of support from the community through various pop-ups over the past year.
Purrfect Pair will have around 15 to 20 cats on site at a time.
If patrons are interesting in adopting one of the cats, they can submit an application for adoption at the cafe, after which point the Humane Society will take over and handle the rest of the process.
‘We probably have 200 to 300 cats during the high peak season’
Humane Society of York County Rescue Manager Megan Prestwood called the partnership “a win-win for everybody”.
“We probably have one of the highest numbers in the area with the cat intake,” Prestwood said. “We probably have 200 to 300 cats during the high peak season, so (Carey) definitely wanted to make an impact there.”
Coffee, tea, snacks and slushies
The cafe will offer coffee and tea to go along with an assortment of prepackaged pastries and salty snacks.
The restaurant will even have a slushy machine, a request made by some of Carey’s students.
The journey to this point has been a long — yet rewarding — one, and Carey said the cafe will be supporting additional pet rescues in the area with marketing and other special events.
“It was really exciting on Saturday when we got the cats for the first time,” Carey said. “Just to see the smiles on my staff’s faces and them interacting with the cats, and some of our community members who have been helping out. It was really a treat to see them interacting and playing, having fun and everything.”
After its grand opening on Saturday, Carey said the store will also be open on Sunday and Memorial Day.
Following that, the regular business hours for the store will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
Purrfect Pair Cat Cafe
Location: 1125 N Anderson Rd, Suite 101, Rock Hill, SC, 29730
Instagram: @purrfectpaircatcafe
