QC, THAT'S WHERE!
QC, THAT'S WHERE!
'QC, That's Where' your next cat might be at a cat lounge
Captivating and unique, Books & Meows is not your average spot for coffee and cuddles. This podcast episode dives deep into the establishment's heart, exploring how Nicole Puryear has created a sanctuary blending feline friendlies with the love of reading. Nicole shares the journey behind opening her cat lounge, emphasizing its mission to promote children's literacy while providing a home for adoptable cats from the Humane Society. You will hear how Books & Meows serves as an educational hub where kids can engage with animals, develop empathy, and thrive in a nurturing environment.
Visitors can immerse themselves in the cozy atmosphere filled with cats running around, enriching their experience whether they’re there to read, color, or simply connect with furry friends. Nicole discusses her dreams for the future—envisioning even more ways to engage the community, host interactive educational programming, and expand partnerships that emphasize the importance of childhood literacy.
Through firsthand accounts and inspirational stories, this episode offers insight into the communal spirit and the unique place Books & Meows holds in the heart of the Quad Cities. Join us for a discussion that highlights the importance of nurturing both minds and hearts, wrapped in the warm embrace of pets.
If you'd like to find Books & Meows, you can engage with them on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61555359982256
or visit their website here: https://booksmeows.org/
Also, as promised, here's one of Nicole's favorite attractions - the Bettendorf Farmer's Market: https://mvgrowers.com/mvga-farmers-market-locations/bettendorf-farmers/
Don't forget to subscribe, share this episode, and leave us a review!
QC, That's Where is a podcast powered by Visit Quad Cities. Through the people, partnerships, and personalities woven throughout the Quad Cities region, you'll meet real Quad Citizens and hear the untold stories of the region.
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our final question of these podcasts. It is to fill the blank.
Speaker 3:Uh, qc, that's where that's where you pet cats where do you find a family of communities connected by the storied mississippi river, where young explorers and dreamers, investors and entrepreneurs thrive? Where can you connect with real people living and creating in a place that's as genuine as it is quirky QC? That's where.
Speaker 1:Welcome to QC. That's where I'm Katrina, your host, and I'm here today with Nicole Puryear, the owner at Books and Meows. Nicole, how are you today?
Speaker 2:Good Thanks. So much for having me. Thank you for being on.
Speaker 1:So books and meows is something that I caught wind of and I just want to know more about, first and foremost. So like tell me about books and meows and like, if someone comes in, if I go in, what is my experience and what do y'all do there?
Speaker 2:So I really just make a place where people could come in and essentially do whatever they want, whether that's read a book, color, just you know, have your kids, introduce your kids to cats. There are kids who love cats and you know, maybe a family member is allergic and they can't have cats. So they can come in and, you know, play with cats and then also cats find homes. So all of our cats are adoptable and it's just a really nice setting. The cats are in like a home setting. The cats live there full time and they just you're able to see their personalities. So much in that setting. So I think it's a really nice concept.
Speaker 1:Have you guys seen like quick turnover with the cats? Like someone comes in, they, you know, didn't expect to, but they fall in love immediately and they go. Hey, I didn't plan on it, but I'm bringing this cat home today.
Speaker 2:So not so much. We get a lot of people who are actively looking to adopt a cat and they'll come in. You have a lot of kids trying to get the parents to adopt cats, but it just really depends. Some weeks we have no adoptions and then last week we had two adoptions, so it just, it really is just quite a flow yeah, so okay, where do the cats come from?
Speaker 1:are you guys aligned with one of the shelters or humane society? How does that all work?
Speaker 2:yep, all the cats come from um humane society of scott county. You know, vet the cats, they're all fixed, they're all up to date on all their shots. So we just do like the day to day care for the cats and then all adoptions go through them. They approve people and then they pick the cats up from us. It's such a cool.
Speaker 1:It's such a cool concept. So walk me through kind of the inspiration behind creating books and meows. How did you get from day one to today?
Speaker 2:Um, it was quite a long process. When cat cafes first started popping up, I was like that's really cool, like I'd love to do that. I'm an animal person. I have a ton of animals, not just cats, I have all the animals. So you know, and this was I don't know 15 years ago maybe you know, and I called the health department and I was like you know, I'd really love to do something like this. And they were like no, and I'm like but what if I? And they were like no, and I was like okay.
Speaker 2:So you know, that idea kind of died and I had kids and went about my life. That idea kind of died and I had kids and went about my life. And then my youngest went to kindergarten and I was like okay, like I have all this time now I'm like what if I used to sell Usborne books and like I loved reading with my kids and you know, like physical books, like I like a book, I want a, I want a book in my hands, you know, and like I love that and I love that for my kids. So I thought books and cats, like that's kind of perfect. So I just kind of started with that and got a ton of book donations. So that was awesome. Um, and yeah, just kind of spiraled into books and meows which my 12 year old she came up with the name.
Speaker 1:Oh, she did yeah, oh, shout out, I love that that's so. You've got three kids, like reading with them has been kind of a part of your DNA as a family and so, um, talk to me a little bit about the push towards, like children's literacy that Books and Meows lends itself to.
Speaker 2:It's really important for kids to have access to books and to be read to and all those things. So I love to like be able to bring like another space where, hey, you want to go pet this cat, okay, let's bring our books, let's go read to the cats. You know something to encourage kids? And then I know one of my um kids teacher said in the summer like she'd be interested in doing story times. So like we have that I think that'll be really fun in the summer, like have a story time with the cats, so things like that.
Speaker 1:That's awesome it's. It's really cool that you're you and your business and like in your kind of corner of the Quad Cities, you are pushing that early childhood literacy and you've got connections that have kind of helped fostering that and so, like a handful of episodes back at QC, that's where we talked to Renee Gellerman at United Way and United Way obviously it has a whole push in that realm as well and it's just so cool seeing that like different facets and expertise of you know areas of the community of the Quad Cities are all kind of working toward the same goal in just different ways. Yeah, it's awesome to hear how you are pushing for that as well. So kudos, kudos to you. It's a great mission behind a really fun place. What are some of the like you know other community integrations? How do you work with other entities?
Speaker 2:around the QC. I know Teske's in Bettendorf has a donation box out for us and in December you know they had a tree with like wishlist items, so like we get donations from that. So it's really nice. And there are businesses where, if you know, like companies like 3M, their employees volunteer and then they send us money for that.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. I love that community integration. I always, you know, the more like the more interviews I do on QC, that's when podcast, I just see how like there's so much partnership and like collaboration in the Quad Cities, which I think is really unique as a region because, you know, we're we're two different states, we're multiple different cities, but it's like everybody finds a way to help each other out and, you know, extend a service or extend an idea and it's just really, it's really cool. It sounds like you're seeing that you know day to day as as you're working and so you are a very busy person. Yes, a little bit. Let's get a little bit more personal with Nicole. So you got the three kids, you're working a lot. What do you all do for fun? When you got let's pretend you had a weekend off, what do you guys go do? What do you take your kids you guys go do? What do you take your kids to?
Speaker 2:My kids love to go to the fun station. They love going to parks. We love going to movies and to concerts, even if it's just going out to eat. There's a ton of restaurants, a ton of places that the kids love to go. They each have their favorite, you know. So, yeah, we just kind of get out, just explore new things. We love Smith Island and going there's like a one mile little loop that you can do. We love that, and then you can see all you know the wildlife there's a lot of different like types of experiences you can have.
Speaker 1:So, like you know, I've got two little kids that are pretty wild so I haven't attempted anything too structured with them yet. But like I love the, I love the projection that I will be taking them to, like the I-74 oculus, like the bridge, to stand in the middle of that really beautiful view of the Mississippi.
Speaker 3:River.
Speaker 1:Like you, you know you said there's a lot of different, like hidden gems. There's Sylvan Island, you know, and there's like the Rock Island Arsenal. There's like a whole different type of little, you know, family, like splash pad there and playground, and there's just a lot of things to discover here.
Speaker 2:So yeah, and like Freight House Farmer's Market. I love that. Yeah, and like freight house farmer's market, I love that. Yeah, love me a good farmer's market, what's your? And there's like that. There's that little one in Bettendorf in the summer, I think it's. I don't know, I don't even know when it is Mondays and Thursdays or something.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll find the details and it will be in the description of this podcast. I'm gonna make a note we want you all to check out that Bettendorf Farmer's Market I actually have they have the best corn, best corn. Yes, hey, you know what I'm going to make that an activity that I have to go check out. So, thank you. Right now I can't help but notice and if, if you're listening, I'll describe it for you but you are wearing a cookies by design shirt yes so many jobs.
Speaker 1:That's one of one of your many jobs.
Speaker 2:You said yes, and I love it. I love it. It's so fun. What's your role there? Um, I, primarily I'm the baker, but I do help decorate, I do help customer service. I kind of can do a little bit of everything.
Speaker 1:Yep shout out to cookies by design, as we're being here on this podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they're delicious.
Speaker 1:So get back to back to books and meows a little bit, if you had to, not to put you on the spot, but if you had to. Outlook five years, ten years, do you see, um, any transitioning, any expansion? What's the plan? If you could lay it all out.
Speaker 2:Um, I'm like, let me figure out this week. Um, yeah, I mean, like, definitely I'd love to like expand. Right now we have nine cats. Expand right now we have nine cats. Um, the most we've had is 11, and I mean we do have a pretty big space, um, but it's like it's in an office building, like set up like an office building, there's different rooms. I'd love to kind of have like a big open space, because we have had a paint party there before, but we have to limit it because, know, I can only fit 12 people in that room. So it would, it would be nice to like have a bigger open area where we could do like bigger events.
Speaker 2:Um, we have hosted a couple of birthday parties. That's fun, um, and it was, you know, it was just kind of like trial and error, like okay, let's see what happens, let's try this, and I've been learning as I've been going, you know, and it's just like, okay, this works, this doesn't work, what you know. So it's just kind of, yeah, like one day I'd love to to like expand and do more things, and I think, you know, like cat yoga would be super fun, but right now I just don't, I don't have the space for it, you know.
Speaker 1:I mean you, you know you said you had a paint party and you hosted like birthday parties. I mean it sounds like kind of a an unlimited event. I'm thinking of that opportunities. I could see anything from you know, a bachelorette party of a girl that really likes cats, or or like field trips, you know, for kids or anything in between. I mean, the thing is like the cat, the cat lifestyle is so niche and I definitely know a handful of people who would love to just go and like lay on the floor, probably in books and meows, and just let them, let them roam. You know, it's just. I think you have a lot of like future ahead of of whatever you decide to do with with books and meows.
Speaker 2:Thanks, yeah, I mean, I sure hope so. It's definitely fun. I love that you know I can bring my kids with me. I love that other people can bring their kids Cause like, like, my kids are growing seven, but you know I was always looking for things that I could do with the kids, so I love that. It is like family friendly and, you know, just also just teaching kids how to respect animals and okay, you know we're not going to chase the cat and things like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. I want to bring my. I want to bring my boys as well. It sounds like a really full place. Um, what has been along the way if you haven't mentioned it already like what's been like one of the biggest challenges? Or, you know, aside from like the initial um, getting the like licensing to do it and actually being able to like what, what has been the hardest part getting this going?
Speaker 2:Yeah, obviously, like licensing and waiting, yeah, stuff was hard, um, but I mean like it all everything happens for a reason, and like I also went through a divorce during the whole process of getting this open. So it was like you know what, this is taking a little bit longer, that's okay. Like I have a lot going on, you know. But I think right now the biggest thing is trying to figure out like hours, like what hours should we be open? When are people going to come? You've had days where we're open and nobody comes in and so like that's kind of why you you know, I started with like the make a reservation. That way, this is when we're here, this is when you can come in.
Speaker 2:Um, some people don't seem to like that and they want to be able to walk in. So now we've kind of done like during the week, like okay, like walk-ins are okay. Weekends we still do the reservations because weekends are just busier. I think the hardest thing right now is like scheduling and figuring out when to be open and, obviously, having help to be open, and right now when my mom helps, my boyfriend and his daughter help, so yeah, have you been in the Quad Cities for like your whole life, or did you move here at a?
Speaker 2:certain point. Yeah, so I grew up northwest suburbs of Chicago, but we I have been here for quite a while, so you're an upper class citizen. I would say yeah, like I love it here, like I have no desire to move back, like I love the schools, I love my friends, I love the community, I love the area.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so like coming kind of from you know Chicago suburbs, living here now, why do you think the Quad Cities was the right place to start this type of business?
Speaker 2:We have so much here, like it's. It's not like, you know, like Chicago they have everything, everything, but like I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything here. Um, so I, I mean, I love, I love that idea of like the cat lounge here, because it's just another thing that's unique to our area, that adds to our area. That kind of like brings like I'm. I'm a social person, I love talking to people, I love socializing, so it's just like another aspect that like I get to meet all these great people and help these cats.
Speaker 1:So it's just, I don't know, it's really fun yeah, I, we like at Visit Club Cities, we have, um, you know, sort of like like an elevator pitch that outlines a handful of things that really just make our area unique and stand out and stuff that we kind of stake claim to. And one of those pieces of that is that we are small town, feel big city amenities.
Speaker 1:And everything like you know, like your business has brought, brought to you know the community adds to that. It's in the interpersonal communication, the way people like treat each other, and it's also in like the drive times, which are like wildly, wildly low if you guess anywhere I know when people think about the traffic here and I'm like this is not traffic, that's just a red light, just a red light it's just a red light.
Speaker 1:I grew up kind of outside Detroit and you know I was used to my dad driving an hour to work. You know one back and that was normal. Everybody, everybody did that. Everybody does that. You know one back and that was normal. Everybody, everybody did that. Everybody does that, you know, in those bigger cities and it's just it's it's really unique and it's really cool how much time you can just save living here. You know you can get anywhere in under 20 minutes. It's nice to see more amenities like yours popping up within that bubble that we all can enjoy and help, you know, push and run with. So if you had to kind of give a little bit word of encouragement to somebody who has a similar idea, maybe a kind of an outlandish idea of a business or something they want to do here, what would you? What would you encourage them with? What would you say or advice here, what would?
Speaker 2:you, what would you encourage them with? What would you say or advice? Um, I mean, it doesn't hurt to try. That would be my thing, you know.
Speaker 1:like try it see what happens, you might be pleasantly surprised. I love that. So ask to when we're dealing with cats, we're dealing with animals and kids. Has there been any highlight moments, anything funny or cool that you've witnessed since you guys have been open?
Speaker 2:My kids, I mean. So there have been cats where we have this little cat bed it's a little crown, a crown and they would put a cat in there and just walk around with her and she loved it. You know, we have one of those sweaters that have like the little pouch that you can put the cat in. So we had a kitten and my daughter would put her in there and she'd like take a nap in the little Snuggie with my dog. They really tried. They really tried to get me to take that one home.
Speaker 1:You're like she's here, you can see her anytime you want, yeah.
Speaker 2:But then, on the other hand, it's like we get attached, you know, and then these cats get adopted, and then I have to be like, okay, like you know, Fiona got adopted, and then the cats, and then the kids, you know, they're like, oh, and I'm like, I know, but like that's the point.
Speaker 1:Do you find that a lot with the people that adopt your cats, that they kind of stay in touch and keep you posted on how they are?
Speaker 2:some do, and you know some will send me pictures and post on the facebook. So that's nice to see, that's awesome yeah well, congratulations.
Speaker 1:It sounds like it's really like it's good for the soul, it's good for the cats, like things are moving. I'm really happy that things are going well and I look forward to coming and checking it out at some point too. Yeah, that'd be great. I have to ask you our final question of these podcasts. It is to fill in the blank QC.
Speaker 2:That's where that's where you pet cats.
Speaker 1:Amen you pet cats. Thank you so much. How do we find you? What's your website? What's your social? How can people reserve a time and come?
Speaker 2:see you. Facebook is Books and Meows wwwbooksandmeowsorg. On the website there is reservations and you can click on that and see all of our available time slots.
Speaker 1:Perfect, I'll put that all in the description, too, of this podcast, for anyone who's listening and wants to learn a little bit more. So, nicole, thank you again so much. Qc, that's where you pet cats. I'm running with that one and I'll see you really soon with that one, and we'll see you really soon, thank you.
Speaker 3:Thanks for listening to QC. That's when a podcast powered by Visit Quad Cities Text VISITQC to 38314 for insider events, activities and updates sent straight to your phone. That's V-I-S-I-T-Q-C, one word to 38314. Message and data rates may apply.
