Purrfect Bean cat café to open in Richmond

I had a cat — Wigwam was the name, eating French fries was her game — and she passed away in 2019. Six years later, I can’t commit to another emotionally destructive rodeo that is putting an animal to sleep.

Yet, there is something missing in my life. And — no — it’s absolutely not a child.

There is going to be a place, in April, where I can indulge my fondness for snuggling a fluffy chonk baby or two, without signing onto total ownership.

So I’m waiting for when I will be able to go to Purrfect Bean (214 N. Lombardy St.), a cat café, that is building out its space right now in The Fan, in the former location of Westray’s Finest Ice Cream.

I went over to the site of the Purrfect Bean, where I checked out the 1,700 square feet that is the future home of a first-floor cafe and a second-floor attic-style cattery. There, I was able to chill with the owner, Michelle Langham, and her orange cat, Kyber, to get acquainted with their venture.

“The idea came to fruition in August 2024,” said Langham. “I wanted a way to be involved with animal rescue, which is my passion, but also to have my own business and be my own boss. Once I had that idea, I thought, ‘Wow, I can really do this,’ and I started reaching out to other cat cafés.”

She sought advice from those cat cafés inside and outside of the region, including Aristocats Café in Harrisonburg, which, she said, was “super helpful.”

She’s also very motivated to partner the animals with potential owners, rather than to populate her business. “The biggest goal with my café is to get cats into homes,” she said. “That’s something that’s really important to me that is something I do in my personal life. I do a lot of TNR — trap, neuter, return — and get them vaccinated and return them back outside unless they’re still kittens, and then I find homes for them.”

She said that in the past few years she’s TNR’d about 20 cats and has rehomed and socialized about 70 kittens that came from those community cats.

I mentioned my “community cat,” a tortoise shell who frequently visits my porch and also pops into my living room for unannounced visits. Langham said, “There are owned cats that belong to people that roam around. But when I say community cats, I mean that they’re cats that aren’t owned, that are in a community, that are on the street, through no fault of their own, or those who are born on the streets and are not social with people.”

The Purrfect Bean is still being built out — the floors and walls aren’t finished and the upstairs is in a similar mid-construction state. Ultimately, the café part of the business will sell coffee and tea, and premade, wrapped items. Menu prices are not finalized yet.

When I was there, the cats had not yet arrived. They will be brought in incrementally as the spot is about to open to the public. “This process is so the cats can acclimate and get used to the space,” said Langham. “I’m going to partner with a rescue. There’s three that I’ve been talking to, that I’ve been waiting to hear back from, and once I do, we’re going to move forward with rehoming their cats, and I’ll be fostering the cats for them.”

What if you find a stray cat? Should you bring it to Purrfect Bean for fostering? No, you should not, Langham told me. “If you find a stray, call Animal Care & Control. That legally has to go through a specific channel. I will not work with Animal Care & Control. It’s just not the process. I have other relationships with other organizations.”

And what if you want to adopt one of Purrfect Bean’s cats? You sign up for an hour session upstairs and if you see a cat that you want to adopt, you’ll find a QR code that links directly to the rescue’s website where you’ll fill out an application. Then you’ll hear back from the rescue to schedule a time to go to their location for paperwork, but you will ultimately pick the cat up directly from the Purrfect Bean. The process will take a few days and all fees will be paid to the rescue as opposed to the café.

In the meantime, between then and now, we must wait for their official opening. Just remember: there are no dogs allowed.