Forget the Notion of the customer coming first. At the House of Mews, cats are No. 1. Elain Harvey, founder and managing director of the non-profit House of Mews, says the abused, abandoned or neglected cats who live in her shop - about 150 at a time - come first.
According to Harvey, the House of Mews, located at 944 S. Cooper in the space formerly occupied by the plant shop Botanic, is one of a kind. 40 to 50 cats of all breeds, mixes and sizes roam freely about the store, while 10-20 kittens play in a large walk-in cage. Held in individual cages, cats that aren't socialized to other cats keep their distance from the others. In a back room of the shop, cats that are sick, weak or injured are housed and treated.
While House of Mews does carry retail items helpful in nettng cat owners - videos on how to potty-train a kitten and bags of environmentally friendly kitty litter made from ground-up corncobs - the shop's main goal is to create a loving, if temporary, home for cats.
Harvey says House of Mews is intentionally different from mall pet stores, where animals sell for hundreds of dollars while many more languish in animal shelters. Her shop is an extension of a currently hot issue: awareness and animal rights.
"It's not depressing to walk in here like it is in the animal shelter," says Harvey. "The idea was to show people that there are more alternatives than what we're doing right now to get animals adopted. We don't have to kill thousands of animals. There are better ideas than shelter or humane societies."
Homes for 2,000
In its three-year history, the House of Mews has placed more than 2,000 cats.
While the store is open only three days a week, volunteers field and return the dozens of calls received daily on the shop's answering machine. Many of the calls are to add cats to an already long waiting list.
"Sometimes people love their cats but have allergy problems and they don't know that an air purifier could be the answer," says Harvey. "They are grateful for that type of advice, and it keeps one more cat off the street.
Harvey first became a cat care volunteer when she was a customer at Goodwin's nursery, a Germantown plant outlet that had become home to a number of strays. As word apparently spread in the feline community, more cats moved in and humans began dropping off unwanted kittens. Harvey coordinated a growing group of volunteers to help with the cats. Thus, the idea for the House of Mews was born.
"We wanted a better environment to attract more people to the cats and have control over who was adopting them," says Harvey. "I happened to have a friend who knew someone from Botanica and had some inside information. We knew that they were moving before the landlord did, so we were able to secure this space."
The Cooper-Young location has been a boon to the House of Mews. Harvey says the rent was cheaper than Germantown shops. And the location benefits from a constant stream of passers-by.
Frequently, patrons of nearby restaurants and bars watch the cats at night and return the next day to adopt a pet or offer to volunteer. During the annual Cooper-Young street fair, business is so brisk that retail sails are moved to sidewalk booths and the shop is closed every few hours, just to give the cats a break from humans.
Initially, many of the nearby businesses were wary of having 150 cats as neighbors.
"At first, some of the businesses were wondering what we were doing here and had various concerns -- such as if the smell could somehow permeate through brick walls and ruin their business." says Harvey. "If anything, we have helped bring people down here, as ouch as we have benefited from their customers."
Harvey says support for the shop extends beyond Midtown. The shop is staffed by an alternating crew of 35 volunteers, most of whom have full-time jobs and some of whom have been with the House of Mews since it opened.
"Volunteering takes dedication - it's hard work in here," Harvey says."This kind of work is very humbling. We've had attorneys, teachers, nurses, marketing people, advertising people, and business owners in here, all scooping litter boxes."
Support also has come from veterinarians donating their services and from supplies given by such stores as PetCo and Hollywood Pet Star.
The pet supply retailers, rather than perceiving House of Mews as a competitor, want the shop to thrive, Harvey says.
Cats on Hats...And Other Stuff
"We try to carry retail what people who are adopting a cat would need, but also unique cat-related things that you wouldn't find anywhere else that will bring people into the store (and encourage them to) either make a donation or adopt a cat," says Harvey. The shop's stock ranges from unique cat toys and videos of tropical birds (for the cats to view, of course) to clothes hangers and business-card holders decorated with feline images.
Harvey wants to expand the shop's retain and carry ore consigned artwork.
"The store started as a consignment shop, because it requires less capital output. We'd like to get more of this in to help increase our revenue," she says.
While Harvey has no ambitions to open branches, she does hope to inspire visitors to open similar shops in their hometowns.
"We had a lady from New York, come in, and she is going to open one of these up there," she says. "We also got a letter from a man in London who wants to do this over there. I have been communicating with a lady in Beverly Hills on the Internet and one in New Orleans, as well. There is also a group in Pittsburgh who is looking to open one, but are making it a whole big plan that will take a couple of years to put together."
Harvey, on the other hand, put House of Mews together in a month.
"It's amazing -- most people think to start something like this up it would be very expensive, but with all the help we got,it only took an investment of about $5,000 and a minimum of $1,500 a month to maintain," she says. "Because, the largest part of our revenue is donations that we don't have to pay taxes on, House of Mews can run on $60,000 a year."
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