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Originally Posted by djforsberg
Well, apparently the VegaBoo cat coffee shop is closing down. I will be the first to admit I was wrong about that one. Perhaps in a better location they could have survived but maybe Regina can only support one of these types of places right now. They still managed to place over 100 homeless cats and that's wonderful.
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I think they had a lot going against them. The location is terrible (and is the reason Robins closed in the first place). It’s a pain to get to just to visit the cafe and if you’re just looking to pick up a coffee to go it’s not worth the hassle and it’s so out of the way it would probably never cross your mind anyway. They also had a limited menu, which is fine, but I was there at 1 pm one day and If you wanted a treat to go with your coffee, they had almost nothing left. The space also wasn’t very comfortable, I think that was the remnants of Robins. You could tell they were trying, especially in the cat room, but they would’ve needed more extensive renovations to do that. I found it difficult to interact with the cats and enjoy your coffee at the same time. They had high tables and uncomfortable seating. Having said that, this was all early on, so it’s possible they’ve improved some of these things. It’s too bad they couldn’t make it work. There are a lot of cats that need homes and you (almost) never want to see a small business fail. I do think the location was their biggest downfall. I don’t think they failed because it’s a cat cafe or a novelty.
I have no idea if they’re doing better financially, but I think Excalipurr has a few things going for it that Vegaboo didn't. Way better location-fairly central, on a busy street with decent walkable parking, pedestrian traffic, a lot of people living and working within walking distance. If you’re just driving by it’s easy to stop in and grab a coffee. They also do little pop up shops that bring in extra traffic. Their cafe is a comfortable space on its own if you just want a coffee or something to eat. Their cat room set up also makes it easier to interact with the animals so it doesn’t just feel like you’re sitting in a coffee shop with cats hanging around. You can spend a little more time with them (this is also helped by the fact that they have more cats so there’s more likely to be a kitty that is social or wants to snuggle or play).