A cat cafe in Toronto whose mission was to find homes for “overlooked” felines has announced that it’ll be closing its doors later this year due to mounting challenges making operation nearly impossible.
After Meow Cat Cafe closed down in 2018, Toronto went through a drought of sorts when it came to the concept, popularized in Asia, which invites visitors to meet and play with cats while sipping a cappuccino.
For five years, cat people in Toronto had to get their kicks by either adopting a pet themselves or befriending cat owners keen to host a house guest. It was mutiny.
In 2023, however, the skies opened, and Lazy Cat Cafe was born, opening up in Scarborough.
Beyond providing the city’s feline fanatics with a space to hang out with cuddly creatures, the cafe was founded with the goal of finding forever families for homeless cats, sourcing their animals from a number of local rescues and offering the possibility of adoption.
The concept was such a success that, the following spring, the business opened a sister location on a prime strip on Queen West, taking over a commercial space left behind by Nobis.
The even bigger and better location could facilitate more cats, more visitors and, in theory, more adoptions — it was a three-way win!
Operating the massive space while simultaneously caring for a pack of cats proved more difficult than initially anticipated for the team behind the cat cage, though, and on Jan. 12, they took to the cafe’s Instagram page to announce that their Queen West location will be shutting down in a matter of months, less than a year after opening.
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce a difficult decision: Lazy Cat Cafe Downtown will permanently close in May 2025,” the caption of the post reads. “This is a deeply sorrowful message for us, and although we hoped this day would never come, it is a reality we must face.”
According to the post, the reality of operating the cafe — both in terms of cost and physical labour — proved to be significantly more difficult than initially anticipated, with the team being presented with “numerous hurdles.”
They go on to cite operation costs, including veterinarian bills averaging around $5000 a month and $10,000 rent, alongside vitriol from the Toronto community as two major reasons for the closure.
The closure announcement also comes in the wake of a wave of criticism geared towards the cafe, after a TikTok video arose wherein the creator (who has since made their account and, thus, the video private) made claims of mistreatment after noticing some seemed sick.
“The environment was so deeply upsetting that myself and everyone I came with was out of this cafe within 20 minutes and we had made a reservation for an hour,” the poster says in the video.
Following the video, the cafe received a number of one-star Google reviews, which they responded to via an Instagram post on Jan. 12, which was posted immediately after the closure announcement.
“Our staff attempted to reassure her, even offering to show the medical and vaccination records, but she chose to insult our staff instead,” the caption reads. “Customers who have visited our café know what kind of establishment we are.”
While Lazy Cat Cafe’s Downtown location is slated to close this May, their Scarborough location, at least for now, will remain open.
Lazy Cat Downtown is located at 360 Queen West.
