Pet a cat, get a snack: cat cafe opens in Port Orange

Located at the Pavilion, LoCATion Cat Automat gives Port Orange an activity for everyone — as long as you're a cat person.

By Tim Briggs
| 3:20 p.m. July 24, 2017

A customer plays with one of the cats on Sunday. Its blue collar indicates that it's a boy. Cats with red collars are girls.

The team behind LoCATion Cat Automat pose for a photo on Sunday. Left to right: Co-owner Colleen Macy, co-owner Marilyn Silva, Nina Macy, Mary Jane Macy.

Located at the Pavilion, look for the "MEOW" sign in the window.

An adventurous cat looks for his next pounce at LoCATion Cat Automat at the Pavilion.

Ormond Beach Observer
Business

The sound of 26 different meows echoes through LoCATion Cat Automat at the Pavilion in Port Orange on Sunday.

These 26 cats are wandering around the room. Some are climbing platforms glued into each wall, a few brave souls are walking across a plexiglass bridge suspended from the roof, but most are just playing with Port Orange residents who are looking for some quality cat time.

For a fee of $5, customers can play with all of the cats for an hour while enjoying specialty snacks and treats that sit in the back of the store in vending machines.

“We’re trying to create a balance between Chuck E Cheese’s and World of Beer,” owner Colleen Macy said. “It’s a way for the middle school and high school kids around here to enjoy something different.”

Teaming with the Volusia County Humane Society, the store also allows any customer to adopt any of the cats at the store. LoCATion doesn’t take any profit from cat adoptions, with all of the profits going to the Volusia County Humane Society.

Some of the specialty snacks and treats on display at the store are Dippin’ Dots and Mochi snacks. Macy says the Mochi snacks have been a best seller.

She owns the store with her sister Marilyn Silva and her two daughters Mary Jane and Nina.

As cat lovers, the family went to visit the Orlando Cat Cafe, and that’s where the dream began to create one of their own. The family has also been influenced by cat cafes in Japan and California.

“We noticed how much we really loved it, so we decided why not do it ourselves?” Macy said.

Customers of every kind have entered LoCATion in the last week since its opening on July 16.

Whether it’s a date, a man waiting for their women to be done shopping or an older man who didn’t know where his family went, the LoCATion Cat Automat is a safe haven for anyone, and a unique place that not a lot of people have heard of before.

“We’ve just noticed how much people love the idea when they come in,” Silva said. “It’s something that we know could be successful because it can provide a good environment for everyone.”