08/30/2020
It is with great sadness to share that Nashville’s original, wonderful and beautifully creative Kitty Cafe is CLOSING for good September 30 😿 So many kitties AND people were rescued over the time they came into existence... offering the chance to make a soul bond. We wish Maegan Phan all the very best life has to offer. THANK YOU for making dreams come true and proving time and time again that you are never alone when you have a kitty to love. ❤️
Dear Mewsic Kitty friends and family,
My name is Maegan Phan and I am the owner/founder of Mewsic Kitty Cafe.
When we found out in February that our family would be expecting another baby, we knew some big changes would be in store for Mewsic Kitty. We started thinking about selling the business or taking on a partner. Then, when everything came to a stop because of the pandemic, our priority became keeping our team, cats, and community safe and healthy. We closed our doors, not knowing when we might reopen, and placed our cats in foster care, hoping things would start to return to normal and allow us to go back to planning to sell or partner by early summer. With things still looking questionable, we decided to reopen during Nashville’s Phase 2 in early June. Unfortunately, with the steady presence of COVID-19 cases, there is no end in sight to the uncertainty and considerable financial impact this has had on Mewsic Kitty. Despite reopening, our sales continue to stay at or below 50% of what they were last year. We are unsure how many more months we might be able to sustain and know we will not have the people power to manage the cafe in coming months without a dramatic change. Given all these considerations, we have made the difficult decision to permanently close Mewsic Kitty. While I’d like to imagine we’ll be back some day because I truly believe in this business, mission, and model, we have no plans for it at the time.
The journey of Mewsic Kitty has been nothing short of life changing. I have so many memories to hold - from the excitement of our first pop up at Atmaology and all of the wonderful people who volunteered to make that sold-out event a success, to my first favorite cat (“the one who got away”), Winston aka Pawl Simon, who seemed like a human stuck in a cat’s body with a tendency towards existential crises, never shy about how he really felt, to toting a tiny baby in to check on cats and watch as the Mewsic Kitties, who were much bigger than her, surrounded the infant seat, to all of our dedicated purrduction crew’s beautiful cat drawings, antics, and favorite kitties, listening to your stories when you would visit (these are some of my absolute favorite memories - hearing about your hometowns, your first cats, your current cats, and the ones who crossed the rainbow bridge …), and even the times we thought a cat managed to escape our brilliantly cat-proofed lounge - tearing up back walls - only to find them safe, in an accessible but unusual spot only a cat could find.
Personally, this is a challenging decision to accept; one that is wrought with grief & sadness but, also, gratitude for all we’ve been able to accomplish together. Mewsic Kitty will always be in my heart. I know I will cherish the memories. I’m sure there will be many tears to come, thinking about the joy of getting to know so many people and cats these past three years. Thank you for your support, generosity, friendship, and love you’ve shown us and the kitties. Thank you for adopting, for sharing your stories with us and listening to ours, for visiting, and believing in rescue cats and us. To the meowvalous supporters who contributed to our COVID-19 GoFundMe to help our employees and with some overhead during the closure, thank you for standing by us now and in the past. We will be sending you a separate email with a little “thank you” surprise.
Meanwhile, we will be open through the end of September. If you have a gift card to Mewsic Kitty, it will be honored through our last day in business (Wednesday, September 30th.) We’ll continue to be open regular hours and hope to get LOTS of cats adopted before we have to say “y’all come back meow” for the last time and wish everyone “happy tails.” As usual, you can book online or walk-in (as space allows.) In addition to selling off our remaining merchandise, we have a lot of cool, one-of-a-kind stuff for sale; restaurant equipment, cat decor, and toys. If you see something in the shop you’re interested in, please ask the purrduction crew. We’ll have some minimum prices but be “best offering” the big stuff. We’ll be happy to give you details on pick up, payment, etc.
To everyone who has been a part of this, thank you from the bottom of my heart. This has been an adventure of a lifetime. Purrhaps our paths will cross again, petting or fostering cats somewhere. I certainly hope so. Until then, please keep in mind the many other Tennessee Cat Cafes that have launched since Mewsic Kitty first opened its doors: The Catio (Nashville), Catfeine (Murfreesboro), Naughty Cat Cafe (Chattanooga), and Scruffy’s (Knoxville.) Whether you’re considering adoption or just need some cat time, please stop in to support the life-saving work of these local small businesses so maybe they can make it through this challenging economic time.
We hope you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy during these difficult times. While we didn’t think it would be this soon for closing Mewsic Kitty, we are also reminded nothing last forever - including this pandemic and economic slow down. I hope this can be a reminder there are greater things ahead for us all - things we couldn’t possibly imagine or know now. I’ve seen it happen time and again; I’m sure this will be just the same for you and for me.
With love and, yes, cheers + purrs,
Maegan
