New York City had its “Cats on Broadway.” Cincinnati has its Bengals.
None compare to Richmond’s full-time feline influencers.
From Richmond A-lister Francine, the Broad Street Lowe’s employee of the month every month, to Alice, who roams Hollywood Cemetery, the city’s street, alley and shop cats have become a constant conversation starter on and off of social media.
While there are numerous Instagram accounts and Reddit tags dedicated to the city’s finest, no one works as hard as the cats running several local businesses’ advertising departments.
Here’s a litter of the city’s hardest workers:
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Vinyl destination
Arguably, Mihos, a black cat that became the mascot of the Scott’s Addition-based record store Wax Moon, has the same affinity for vinyl as his owner Andrew Griimoiire.
On any given day, prior to his retirement, Mihos could be found lounging across the stack of heavy metal albums or stretching against the wall of VHS tapes.
If he was feeling playful, customers could expect to find him attempting, rather unsuccessfully, to swat pinballs from the various machines located in the shop.
“He’s my best friend,” Griimoiire said. “People come in just to see him. It’s nice, he helps pay the bills.”
For the past seven years, Mihos has been a central part of the business, at 1310 Altamont Ave. A mural of his likeness fills one side of the building. Inside the shop, there are shirts that feature him.
It was a friendship that began when Griimoiire began feeding some stray cats in the alley behind his home. Then one day, Mihos followed him home and they’ve been a big part of each other’s lives ever since.
When Griimoiire opened Wax Moon in 2015, Mihos became synonymous with the shop. While Mihos is typically friendly, Griimoiire said he has gotten grumpier with age. So, Griimoiire made the decision to retire Mihos.
Now, instead of spending his days napping on top of the records, he rests on a couch at home. Recently, Griimoiire brought in a new hire, Lunastella.
Lunastella is a black kitten who is taking over the role of shop cat. Often, she can be found listening to records and sitting by the front desk.
From barn cat to calendar model
Cricket lives at Sneed’s Nursery.
From the occasional raccoon to a couple of chickens, Jenny Rash is no stranger to welcoming dependents to the property.
The Sneed’s Nursery operations manager has seen numerous critters make a home in the back garden in the 20 years she’s worked there. While some choose to only visit, others become lifers.
None have been as popular as Cricket.
Cricket, a brown and white tabby, came to the nursery from a customer’s friend’s barn. It wasn’t long after she arrived that she started to turn heads.
“She just came in and she wasn’t nervous. She just made herself at home,” Rash said. “She’s just really, really sweet natured and people just fell in love with her.”
Cricket has been known to follow customers around and has jumped in people’s trunks as they were filling them with various plants, Rash said.
She has become a staple at the nursery and at times, the face of the operation. Folks have brought in their own paintings and drawings of her and every year, she is the subject of the nursery’s calendar – the proceeds go toward an animal rescue.
Often, people come to the nursery just to catch a glimpse of Cricket.
“We don’t do any advertising, it is all word of mouth and social media,” Rash said. “So, we just feature her a lot and people come to see her and they take their own pictures and tag us.”
The Mayor of Bellevue
Formerly a street cat, Sue lives at Nicola Flora and has become well known in the neighborhood. (Photo by Ashley Caskins).
He grew up quick and he grew up mean. His claws got hard and his wits got keen. He roamed from town to town and had to fight his whole life through. Life hasn’t been easy for a boy named Sue.
At least, that’s how Nicole Roberts, owner of Nicola Flora at 1219 Bellevue Ave. in Bellevue, explains her longtime shop companion.
Sue, whose namesake comes from the Johnny Cash song “A Boy Named Sue,” which tells of a man who is constantly fighting people as a result of his feminine name, came to Roberts under similar circumstances.
While in the midst of telling a shop guest about her late cat who just passed, Sue strolled through the front door.
His face had a deep gash and he was not in the best condition probably, as a result of a street fight. After a trip to the vet, Sue found himself at home in the shop.
Now, over a decade later, Sue has become the talk of the neighborhood often coined the Mayor of Bellevue.
“He’s been around but he always stayed with us. He just kept coming back,” Roberts said. “He greets everyone and loves everyone.”
When he isn’t laying out on his bed or playing with his sister, Chloe the turtle, Sue can be found greeting his constituents in the neighborhood.
With the floral shop located next to a restaurant, Roberts said she’s found Sue lounging on patio chairs, sitting on the bench behind the restaurant where workers go to smoke and he’s also climbed onto the seat of a few motorcycles.
Mysteries at the museum
Edgar and Pluto showed up in the garden at the Poe Museum and have called the place home for several years.
It was a serendipitous occasion when workers at The Poe Museum, 1914 E. Main St., found three kittens in the back garden one morning.
For months, the museum had contemplated adopting a pet. They were leaning toward getting a raven – instead, they found three black cats born on Halloween.
Despite not seeing any stray cats around the area, the cats found their way to the sole literary museum dedicated to the king of macabre.
Not unlike Edgar Allen Poe’s own siblings, in which he was the middle child of three, there were two boys and one girl.
The kittens, named Edgar, after the author himself; Pluto, the name of the cat from one of Poe’s stories, and Katerina, the name of Poe’s own cat, had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
Likely, the three had come from the alley behind the museum seeking shelter. Following their discovery, Katerina was adopted by a tour guide and Pluto and Edgar stayed behind calling the back garden their home for over a decade.
According to Museum Curator Chris Semtner, the cats have become a part of the museum’s appeal and carry with them their own lore.
“It was just perfect that they came along,” Semtner said. “They love people, I think they think they own the place.”
After 10 years, the cats have become tenured tour guides. They have memorized the routes that people take nearly every day and will follow along with the tour. On several occasions, Edgar and Pluto have both decided to jump and play and climb trees as stories are read to visitors.
Why Richmond?
While it’s not uncommon to find stray cats in cities, it is less common to see them be an active part of a business.
In Richmond, it is a common occurrence with more than a dozen businesses harboring their own mascots. Often, folks seek out these places just to visit with them.
While it may be uncertain as to why this is such a given in the city, Richmond Animal Control Director Christie Peters said it is a testament to the city’s animal-loving residents.
Among the most beloved includes Francine who is an honorary employee at Lowes, located at Broad and Lombardy streets. A spokesperson with the company could not be reached for comment.
“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 said. “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 anywhere from 1,200 to 1,500 kittens come through the shelter each year from the Richmond area alone, it’s important to see strong support from the community.
While the department sees numerous folks come in to adopt a cat for home, Peters said it isn’t uncommon to see people adopt cats for their businesses.
According to Peters, they refer to these cats as “working cats.” They can serve as pest control and if it means that they no longer have to spend their lives in a cage, then the department is happy to adopt 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 said. “We get lots of people interested in working cats.”
Belvidere St.
04-26-1951 (cutline): Belvidere Bottleneck–Traffic conflicts along Belvidere Street and intersecting East-West arteries would be eliminated by the proposed expressway’s central grad separation section from Broad to Idlewood, just west of Madison Street. The Madison and northern sections could be completed by 1956.
1105_POD_Belvidere
This January 1953 image shows houses on Belvidere Street in Richmond, as seen near Rowe Street, which were to be taken by the city for a proposed war memorial. The row formed the western boundary of a block that city officials were preparing to acquire. The Virginia War Memorial was dedicated in February 1956.
0226_POD_Cary St
In February 1948, the intersection of Cary and Belvidere streets showed the effects of 20 days with snow on the ground. All around the city, streets had been damaged by the lingering snow and freezing temperatures, and a survey was finding that the cost of road repairs was likely to exceed the cost of snow removal. Intersection of Cary and Belvidere broken up by traffic and snow.
