Coffee & Cats, a ‘purr-fect’ combo: Press Paws — Cat Café & Game Room brings joys of cat cafés to the area (2024)

BURLINGTON – When you walk into the cat lounge, the attack is immediate and heavenly.

About a half dozen furry bundles of joy immediately swarm up on you, tails wagging and throats-a-purring. Within seconds you are getting rubbed on and head bumped and sniffed. Before you know it, a new friend is sitting on your lap.

And with a couple of two-month-olds in the room (and the oldest cat only being two years old), the room is pure cuddly pandemonium.

They run. They jump. They attack. But most importantly: they do it all for a snack.

If hanging in a room with a bunch of cats sounds like a good time, and you’d like to throw in a caffeinated beverage and pastry and possibly some board games or old-school video games into the mix, then Burlington’s newest coffee shop is likely to become your #1 destination.

Press Paws — Cat Café & Game Room opened this week. Located at 1109 Summer Street, Press Paws continues its soft opening last Thursday and Friday for special V.I.P. members. And then, starting on Saturday, Press Paws’ first day being open to the general public will ran from 8 a.m.-10 p.m.

The cat lounge currently features six cats up for adoption through a partnership with the Des Moines County Humane Society (DMCHS) and is cornered off mostly by plexiglass windows, making it easy to watch the cats as they hang and play (and sometimes do their own people-watching) while you visit the café.

Those who wish to enter the cat room have to pay a $12 fee, are required to sign a waiver before entering the lounge, are asked to take off their shoes, are required to wear socks (you can buy special cat socks at the café if you are raw-doggin’ it when you come to visit), each paid visit to the lounge can last a maximum of 60 minutes, the lounge can hold no more than 10 people at a time, reservations to go inside the cat lounge can be made online, and all proceeds from the $12 goes directly to Press Paws to help cover cat food and maintenance costs.

Patrons are not allowed to bring their own cats to the café.

Place to go in college

Megan explained to The Hawk Eye that she first got the idea to open a cat lounge after visiting one in Michigan.

“I’m a huge cat lover,” explained Brincks. “I have two cats at home myself (two big black furry long-haired cats). (Back when I was in college), the thing to do with my friends was (to go to pet stores) and go in the cat room, and they let you hang out and play with the cats. We used to do that all the time.”

After opening Cornerstone, the couple then pondered what their next business adventure might be. And according to Megan, Press Paws became somewhat of a compromise.

“I really wanted another cat, and my husband was like ‘Absolutely not, we already have two, we don’t need any more cats,’” she said. “But if you look at PAW Animal Shelter and the DMCHS, it always seems like there’s a need for cats or that we have a ton of stray cats in Burlington.”

Brincks also noted the work of local no-kill cat shelter Sunny’s Legacy and said having another local outlet to help cats find families to adopt them seemed like a fun way to assist in a worthy cause.

Cats more reserved

“Cats are hard,” Brincks said. “They’re a little more reserved sometimes than dogs are, so it’s hard to tell their personality when they’re in a cage at a humane society. When you have time to play with them and get to know them and see their personality, we hope that the people that choose to adopt them (will be giving them) their forever-home.”

Considering the fact that there aren’t many nearby food and beverage options that aren’t gas stations, it seems as though the café will be a welcome addition to the South Hill neighborhood.

Press Paws will be serving three different blends of coffee, including espresso and decafe, hot and cold, along with Lotus Energy Drink beverages (including Lotus smoothies). The café will also serve soda pop, juice, pastries and fresh baked goods from Made By Mallory bakery of West Burlington and Keto DeLites bakery of Mediapolis (providing keto and gluten free options).

And Brincks also notes that they are in talks with other bakeries, that menu options will change over time, and that the café is open to suggestions from customers on what kind of drinks and snacks they would like to see in the future.

Press Paws is working on a slightly different schedule as they get the business up and running but plan to soon have the café open from 7 a.m.-11 p.m. all seven days of the week.

Currently, the café has 12 employees. Brincks explained that the goal was to have certain staffers work as “Paw-ristas,” focusing on the coffee and snack side, and “Paw-parazzis,” focusing on caring for the cats, keeping the lounge clean and orderly, and making social media videos and posts to let followers learn more about the cats. Both for now, employees are handling both responsibilities, she said.

There a place for humans

In addition to the cat lounge and café area, Press Paws also features a human lounge area complete with comfy chairs, an old school TV with a VCR, DVD player, and original Nintendo system hooked up to it, a series of board games (including Cards Against Humanity and Jenga), and an additional game room for larger group gaming, such as Dungeons and Dragons or Magic the Gathering. The café also provides access to free-will store Donation Connection (which is located on the opposite side of the café, allowing patrons of either shop to freely move through and browse).

In addition to drinks and snacks, the café will also be selling a variety of cat-themed books, clothing, jewelry, and more.

And Press Paws also features a plethora of fun cat paintings, designs, as well as special murals created by local artist Aiden Krell.

Brincks says the later hours are intended to make Press Paws an alternative for those who don’t drink alcohol or want to spend time somewhere other than a bar (and don’t mind doing so in the company of cats).

After moving into the building in January, the Brincks have spent the last few months working to get the café ready to open.

They initially had planned to open their doors in April, but those plans got postponed when they learned that city code required them to open another bathroom. But rather than build a new bathroom from scratch, the Brincks made a deal with Donation Connection to knock down a wall to share their bathroom, giving them the green light to open.

While there are currently six cats in the lounge, Brincks says the lounge can hold a maximum of 15 cats and that more will be coming from the DMCHS.

In order to open the café, Press Paws had to get their animal shelter license, which they were able to do after the DMCHS added the café to their license.

Cats owned by DMCHS

The cats are all legally owned by DMCHS, are spayed and neutered (with the exception of the kittens that are still too young), are up to date on their shots, and are in good health. Every Wednesday, the DMCHS comes to trim their cats’ nails, perform health checks, and process adoptions.

Those looking to adopt a cat still have to apply through the DMCHS website and, if approved, pay a $130 adoption fee.

Press Paws will not take abandoned cats and kittens. If you have a cat or kitten that you cannot keep, Press Paws advises you take them to the DMCHS.

Introducing...

But those in the market for a new cat will have a great group to choose from currently posted up at the café.

Brothers Hunter and Tanner are two months old and verified little balls of energy.

Then there’s Smudge, who was born without tear ducts, so his eyes look a little grimy, but is the sweetest, gentlest cat of the group.

And then there is Blizzard, a nine-month-old calico, the only girl of the bunch, who unfortunately did not work out for a family that tried to adopt her recently but had to return her (the family claimed she kept walking in basem*nt ceiling tile; their loss if you ask me).

And that’s just a quick sample (the rest are all cute and fun as well).

Since Brincks announced on social media that Press Paws would be coming to town, she says there has been a huge amount of interest from Burlingtonians.

She says the Facebook page was up only a day or two before she gained over 1,000 followers.

And to hype up the launch of the business, a special V.I.P. group was formed called the “The Catnip Society,” which received newsletters with updates on the impending opening of the business and who were able to give feedback for the kinds of drinks and snacks they wanted to see at the café.

One of the cats, Severus, an 11-month-old Siamese mix, despite being very shy, already has received multiple applications from potential adopters because of his “cameows” on Press Paws’ social media accounts.

Serving the region

And Press Paws is not only bringing the joys of cat cafés to Burlington but to the region, with the other closest cat café being in Peoria and West Des Moines being home to the only other cat café in Iowa.

Even prior to their opening, Brincks has heard from people from all over, from Iowa City, Dubuque, the Quad Cities, and elsewhere wanting to know when Press Paws would be opening their doors.

“We kind of have a very wide radius of people (for whom) we’re going to be the closest cat café,” Brincks said. “So we hope to bring people in from out of town, which also means that all of these guys (the cats) have a much wider audience of where to find a home”

“Meow,” one of the cats replied.

Opening Hours for thecafé include:

Saturday, June 1, 8 a.m-10 p.m.
Sunday, June 2, 9 a.m.-7 p.m.
Monday, June 3, 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
Tuesday, June 4, 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
Wednesday, June 5, 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
Thursday, June 6, 7 a.m.-10 p.m.
Friday, June 7, 7 a.m.-10 p.m.
Saturday, June 8, 8 a.m.-10 p.m.
Sunday, June 9, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.