After four years of serving up lattes and feline adoption papers, Gainesville’s Feeline Good Cat Café (FGCC) is closing its doors on Saturday, June 21.
The closing comes exactly four years after Francesca Hall opened the “café for cat lovers, created by cat lovers” in 2021 at 201 SE 2nd Pl., Ste. 113.
FGCC provided a space for the community to meet, play with and adopt kittens and cats available through the Humane Society of North Central Florida (HSNCF), while also enjoying a full café menu featuring coffees, teas and hot chocolate.
In May, the café reached 1,000 adoptions.
“Thank you, Feeline Good Cat Café, for everything you’ve done,” HSNCF said in an email. “You’ve truly made Gainesville a better place for cats and the people who care about them.”
The HSNCF’s director of development, Franziska Raeber, told Mainstreet the closure comes after the café struggled to keep up with expensive downtown rent and accommodating customers with limited parking options.
She said the number of customers tended to be seasonal, ebbing and flowing with young people in and out of town for college, and that Hall was considering an out-of-state move. Someone else has already taken over the café’s lease.
“It all comes down to this moment. We’re just very sad about it,” Raeber said. “Francesca has become a very dear friend of mine as well, and she’s doing the right thing.”
Raeber said the milestone of over 1,000 adoptions was big, especially since Hall was only 23 years old when the café opened. She said a lot of the success came from the cafe’s unique environment.
Not only did cats have a place to go while the shelter renovated its cat room, Raeber said the space provided areas of socialization and places to hide that allowed some cats who may be more spicy or shy to come out of their shells and show better than they might at the shelter.
“We had some adoptions of cats that would have maybe been overlooked that got attention there,” Raeber said. “That is definitely going to be a loss for us.”
Although FGCC is still working to adopt the rest of its cats, Raeber said all café cats will return to the shelter or go to foster homes once the café is closed.
All reservations to meet with café cats through Saturday have been filled; however, people can still stop by for a farewell drink during the regular noon to 5 p.m. hours.
Anyone interested in adopting one of the remaining café cats can contact Hall directly at feelinegoodcc@gmail.com to schedule a meet-and-greet.
All adult cats older than five months at FGCC and HSNCF are half-off for $50 through the end of the month, with adoption applications available online.
“To every single person who adopted a cat from the café, thank you,” said HSNCF in an email. “You gave a homeless animal a second chance and helped create space for the next life to be saved. Your kindness made a difference.”
