Cat lovers are about to experience Iowa City’s first-ever cat lounge — no “kitten” around. Kitty Corner Social Club, owned and operated by entrepreneur Katy Brown, officially opened on Feb. 24.
The lounge offers a space for guests to hang out with a cluster of feline friends, most of whom will be available for adoption through the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center. The business is the first of its kind in Iowa City, located at 20 S. Clinton St.
A cat cafe does exist in Des Moines, but Kitty Corner differs in that it does not serve drinks or food. Instead, customers pay to relax in a homey environment with cats and kittens, a fireplace, a TV, and colorful decor. The lounge also offers free flavored water — served in cat-themed mugs — as an alternative to coffee.
Purr-fecting the business model
Ms. Brown, who also owns her own marketing company, was born and raised in Iowa City. She has worked as a PR and marketing strategist for over two decades, but this is her first time launching a brick-and-mortar small business.
Ms. Brown said the concept of opening a cat lounge was originally her son Cooper’s idea, and the two of them visited Coffee Cats in Des Moines to learn more about the business back in May 2024.
“We left the meeting, and he was super excited about it. And I was like, ‘Did we just have the same conversation? This is a nightmare. There’s no possible way that we can have food and drinks and cats in the same space in Iowa City,’” Ms. Brown said. “There’s limited business real estate available down here that would be affordable to meet the state requirements. So we pushed ‘paws’ — pun intended.”
Although she was temporarily swayed, Ms. Brown’s motivation was renewed over the summer. While in Washington D.C. for a wedding, she visited a few other cat cafes and lounges on a whim. She discovered that not all cat cafes actually sell food or drink, and that they could work with a local nonprofit for the adoption angle.
So, Ms. Brown and her son got to work, tailoring their business plan to Iowa City requirements.
“I floated it around with former colleagues and mentors and asked them to poke every possible hole in that business plan that they could. And so I felt really solid about it,” Ms. Brown said. “I pulled together a team of former colleagues… I just said, ‘Do you want to help me build something great?’ thinking, even if it didn’t pan out, it would just be really fun to have this concept. And it turns out that when you start talking about something, you speak it into reality.”
As a woman and as an entrepreneur, Ms. Brown said she has encountered obstacles along the way, but that Iowa City offers a uniquely helpful environment.
“I understand my position of privilege, even being a white woman business owner in this community, I can’t imagine what my colleagues have gone through to be able to grow their businesses and keep them — it is incredibly difficult,” Ms. Brown said. “I have learned to ask for help and resources. The Iowa City Downtown District has an exceptional amount of resources and team members who show up and answer questions… They want to help you succeed. But there is an undercurrent in our community of successful, established business persons — men who want to keep it that way — and there’s a knee-jerk reaction oftentimes, to not take women seriously. We are dismissed and belittled.”
Ms. Brown said she received anonymous comments on Reddit antagonizing the idea for Kitty Corner. However, her business has already received waves of support elsewhere on social media even before opening.
In addition to the day-to-day business plan, Ms. Brown plans to host events like cat yoga, trivia, movie nights, art nights, wellness workshops, and fundraisers. The lounge also offers private reservations for company outings and birthday parties.
Ms. Brown also emphasized her idea of inviting aging populations from retirement communities who may no longer be able to keep pets in their homes.
“We’ve invited five or six area nursing retirement communities; we have a loading zone out front so they can bus in,” Ms. Brown said. “So we’re providing private time for them to come in.”
Although there won’t be food or beverages served, guests are able to bring their own tea or coffee into the lounge. There is also a free-to-use flavored water machine with the ability to choose add-ons like carbonation and electrolytes.
So far, Ms. Brown has hired three full-time and 17 part-time employees to make sure all the cats are properly cared for throughout the week. She is also continuously looking for volunteers to add to the team, enhancing the guest experience wherever needed.
Catnap-ready design
The Kitty Corner space was formerly occupied by V’s Nail Lash Brow Studio. The lounge is located in one of the oldest blocks of downtown Iowa City, built in the mid-1800s.
With such a central location, Ms. Brown said her target demographics are students and residents within a one-mile radius. Guests enter the lounge, check-in, and remove their shoes as part of the house rules. They also receive a sticker with a time limit, ensuring each customer gets their allotted time with the cats.
Decorated with a plethora of feline art, collected by Ms. Brown, the lounge takes the shape of a cozy living room. She also noted the lounge’s custom water-resistant couches with washable covers ensure everything can be easily cleaned. The ceiling is lined with historic original tiles from the 1800s, though they have been painted over.
A massive blue bookshelf lines one wall, complete with places for cats to rest up high and a selection of cat-related books. The “residential feel” is purposeful for the cats and customers alike, with a goal to make all parties feel safe and comfortable.
“We’ll also have books about eco-anxiety and mindfulness and things that align with our value system here in Iowa City, that we are bringing in as a form of resistance in a really positive, loving way,” Ms. Brown said. The cats also have their own “litter room,” separate from the human bathroom. In the back, there is also an employees-only kitchen space where the cats are fed.
So far, the lounge is home to six cats: a colony of five kittens rescued together, plus one extra friend. All are six months old, and ready for adoption. There will also eventually be one or two resident cats to live at the lounge permanently, Ms. Brown said. Local and state laws limit the total number to 12 cats that can be in the building at once.
Kitty Corner is registered as a Dealer for Rescue with the state of Iowa, and recently passed all required inspections to open, Ms. Brown said.
“So we adopt the kittens from the animal shelter; there are three liaisons there who will hand-select personalities that are good and will be successful in our space. Then we take on the ownership of the animal and provide it full-time housing and care,” Ms. Brown said. “And people will come in and meet the animals and fall in love with them, and then go through an adoption process similar to what they would at the animal shelter, but they’ll actually do it with us, and then we approve the application.”
The lounge is partnering with multiple local businesses, including the Cat Clinic of Iowa City for vet services, and Leash on Life for food and litter. Ms. Brown is also in talks with the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business to offer a mental health safe space for students.
For the future, she said one of her goals is to have three more locations across Iowa or in neighboring states. Depending on the success, she may even franchise Kitty Corner to establish cat lounges as a “third space” option. Ms. Brown said opening Kitty Corner has been a personal achievement, but also a beacon of happiness for not only herself and her family, but for the community at large.
“I hit this point in my life where I was like, I just have no thoughts left to give about what people think of me, and I want to be ridiculously okay and solid in who I am, and stand in my power in this community of the values that I want to represent,” Ms. Brown said. “We write our own stories. I really don’t subscribe to the same set of rules that everyone else does. I don’t understand why we can’t have dessert for breakfast. I don’t understand why we can’t break into song in the middle of New-Pi while getting tomatoes. We can, and we can bring joy to people around us.”
