The cats that make their home in Richmond’s businesses

None evaluate to Richmond’s full-time feline influencers.

From Richmond A-lister Francine, the Broad Road Lowe’s worker of the month each month, to Alice, who roams Hollywood Cemetery, the town’s avenue, alley and store cats have turn out to be a continuing dialog starter on and off of social media.

Whereas there are quite a few Instagram accounts and Reddit tags devoted to the town’s most interesting, nobody works as arduous because the cats working a number of native businesses’ promoting departments.

Right here’s a litter of the town’s hardest staff:

Arguably, Mihos, a black cat that grew to become the mascot of the Scott’s Addition-based file retailer Wax Moon, has the identical affinity for vinyl as his proprietor Andrew Griimoiire.

On any given day, previous to his retirement, Mihos might be discovered lounging throughout the stack of heavy steel albums or stretching towards the wall of VHS tapes.

If he was feeling playful, prospects might anticipate finding him trying, relatively unsuccessfully, to swat pinballs from the varied machines positioned within the store.

“He’s my best friend,” Griimoiire mentioned. “People come in just to see him. It’s nice, he helps pay the bills.”

For the previous seven years, Mihos has been a central a part of the business, at 1310 Altamont Ave. A mural of his likeness fills one aspect of the building. Contained in the store, there are shirts that characteristic him.

It was a friendship that started when Griimoiire started feeding some stray cats within the alley behind his home. Then at some point, Mihos adopted him home they usually’ve been an enormous a part of one another’s lives ever since.

When Griimoiire opened Wax Moon in 2015, Mihos grew to become synonymous with the store. Whereas Mihos is often pleasant, Griimoiire mentioned he has gotten grumpier with age. So, Griimoiire made the choice to retire Mihos.

Now, as a substitute of spending his days napping on prime of the data, he rests on a sofa at home. Lately, Griimoiire introduced in a brand new rent, Lunastella.

Lunastella is a black kitten who’s taking up the position of store cat. Typically, she might be discovered listening to data and sitting by the entrance desk.

From the occasional raccoon to a few chickens, Jenny Rash isn’t any stranger to welcoming dependents to the property.

The Sneed’s Nursery operations supervisor has seen quite a few critters make a home within the again backyard within the 20 years she’s labored there. Whereas some select to solely go to, others turn out to be lifers.

None have been as widespread as Cricket.

Cricket, a brown and white tabby, got here to the nursery from a buyer’s good friend’s barn. It wasn’t lengthy after she arrived that she began to show heads.

“She just came in and she wasn’t nervous. She just made herself at home,” Rash mentioned. “She’s just really, really sweet natured and people just fell in love with her.”

Cricket has been identified to comply with prospects round and has jumped in folks’s trunks as they had been filling them with varied vegetation, Rash mentioned.

She has turn out to be a staple on the nursery and at occasions, the face of the operation. People have introduced in their very own work and drawings of her and yearly, she is the topic of the nursery’s calendar – the proceeds go towards an animal rescue.

Typically, folks come to the nursery simply to catch a glimpse of Cricket.

“We don’t do any advertising, it is all word of mouth and social media,” Rash mentioned. “So, we just feature her a lot and people come to see her and they take their own pictures and tag us.” 

He grew up fast and he grew up imply. His claws bought arduous and his wits bought eager. He roamed from city to city and needed to struggle his entire life by means of. Life hasn’t been simple for a boy named Sue.

Not less than, that’s how Nicole Roberts, proprietor of Nicola Flora at 1219 Bellevue Ave. in Bellevue, explains her longtime store companion.

Sue, whose namesake comes from the Johnny Money tune “A Boy Named Sue,” which tells of a person who is consistently preventing folks because of his female title, got here to Roberts below comparable circumstances.

Whereas within the midst of telling a store visitor about her late cat who simply handed, Sue strolled by means of the entrance door.

His face had a deep gash and he was not in the very best situation in all probability, because of a avenue struggle. After a visit to the vet, Sue discovered himself at home within the store.

Now, over a decade later, Sue has turn out to be the speak of the neighborhood typically coined the Mayor of Bellevue.

“He’s been around but he always stayed with us. He just kept coming back,” Roberts mentioned. “He greets everyone and loves everyone.”

When he isn’t laying out on his mattress or taking part in together with his sister, Chloe the turtle, Sue might be discovered greeting his constituents within the neighborhood.

With the floral store positioned subsequent to a restaurant, Roberts mentioned she’s discovered Sue lounging on patio chairs, sitting on the bench behind the restaurant the place staff go to smoke and he’s additionally climbed onto the seat of some bikes.

It was a serendipitous event when staff at The Poe Museum, 1914 E. Primary St., discovered three kittens within the again backyard one morning.

For months, the museum had contemplated adopting a pet. They had been leaning towards getting a raven – as a substitute, they discovered three black cats born on Halloween.

Regardless of not seeing any stray cats across the space, the cats discovered their method to the only real literary museum devoted to the king of macabre.

Not not like Edgar Allen Poe’s personal siblings, wherein he was the center baby of three, there have been two boys and one lady.

The kittens, named Edgar, after the writer himself; Pluto, the title of the cat from one in every of Poe’s tales, and Katerina, the title of Poe’s personal cat, had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Doubtless, the three had come from the alley behind the museum searching for shelter. Following their discovery, Katerina was adopted by a tour information and Pluto and Edgar stayed behind calling the again backyard their home for over a decade.

In response to Museum Curator Chris Semtner, the cats have turn out to be part of the museum’s attraction and carry with them their very own lore.

“It was just perfect that they came along,” Semtner mentioned. “They love people, I think they think they own the place.”

After 10 years, the cats have turn out to be tenured tour guides. They’ve memorized the routes that individuals take practically each day and can comply with together with the tour. On a number of events, Edgar and Pluto have each determined to leap and play and climb timber as tales are learn to guests.

Whereas it is not unusual to search out stray cats in cities, it’s much less frequent to see them be an lively a part of a business.

In Richmond, it’s a frequent prevalence with greater than a dozen businesses harboring their very own mascots. Typically, people search out these locations simply to go to with them.

Whereas it could be unsure as to why that is such a given within the metropolis, Richmond Animal Management Director Christie Peters mentioned it’s a testomony to the town’s animal-loving residents.

Among the many most beloved contains Francine who’s an honorary worker at Lowes, positioned at Broad and Lombardy streets. A spokesperson with the corporate couldn’t be reached for remark. 

“It makes me love Richmond so much more and I don’t know if that’s even possible and I love it because it feels like such and animal centric city,” Peters mentioned. “I know without a doubt that we have so many compassionate people that live and work in the city and they are so wonderful to take these cats in and allow them to be a part of their businesses and their community.”

For Peters, who sees wherever from 1,200 to 1,500 kittens come by means of the shelter annually from the Richmond space alone, it’s essential to see robust help from the neighborhood.

Whereas the division sees quite a few people are available in to undertake a cat for home, Peters mentioned it isn’t unusual to see folks undertake cats for his or her businesses.

In response to Peters, they refer to those cats as “working cats.” They will function pest management and if it signifies that they now not need to spend their lives in a cage, then the division is joyful to undertake them out of the system.

“If there’s someone with their own businesses or warehouses or breweries, and they’re thinking about adding an organic form of pest control into their life, we would gladly adopt someone,” Peters mentioned. “We get lots of people interested in working cats.”