February 26, 2025 • 21 mins
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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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
our final question of these podcasts.
It is to fill the blank.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
Uh, qc, that's where that's where you pet cats where
do you find a family ofcommunities connected by the
storied mississippi river, whereyoung explorers and dreamers,
investors and entrepreneursthrive?
Where can you connect with realpeople living and creating in a
(00:25):
place that's as genuine as itis quirky QC?
That's where.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Welcome to QC.
That's where I'm Katrina, yourhost, and I'm here today with
Nicole Puryear, the owner atBooks and Meows.
Nicole, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Good Thanks.
So much for having me.
Thank you for being on.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So books and meows is something that I caught wind of
and I just want to know moreabout, first and foremost.
So like tell me about books andmeows and like, if someone
comes in, if I go in, what is myexperience and what do y'all do
there?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So I really just make a place where people could come
in and essentially do whateverthey want, whether that's read a
book, color, just you know,have your kids, introduce your
kids to cats.
There are kids who love catsand you know, maybe a family
(01:20):
member is allergic and theycan't have cats.
So they can come in and, youknow, play with cats and then
also cats find homes.
So all of our cats areadoptable and it's just a really
nice setting.
The cats are in like a homesetting.
(01:40):
The cats live there full timeand they just you're able to see
their personalities.
So much in that setting.
So I think it's a really niceconcept.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
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 immediatelyand they go.
Hey, I didn't plan on it, butI'm bringing this cat home today
.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So not so much.
We get a lot of people who areactively looking to adopt a cat
and they'll come in.
You have a lot of kids tryingto get the parents to adopt cats
, but it just really depends.
Some weeks we have no adoptionsand then last week we had two
(02:26):
adoptions, so it just, it reallyis just quite a flow yeah, so
okay, where do the cats comefrom?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
are you guys aligned with one of the shelters or
humane society?
How does that all work?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
yep, all the cats come from um humane society of
scott county.
You know, vet the cats, they'reall fixed, they're all up to
date on all their shots.
So we just do like the day today care for the cats and then
all adoptions go through them.
They approve people and thenthey pick the cats up from us.
It's such a cool.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
It's such a cool concept.
So walk me through kind of theinspiration behind creating
books and meows.
How did you get from day one totoday?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Um, it was quite a long process.
When cat cafes first startedpopping up, I was like that's
really cool, like I'd love to dothat.
I'm an animal person.
I have a ton of animals, notjust cats, I have all the
animals.
So you know, and this was Idon't know 15 years ago maybe
(03:29):
you know, and I called thehealth department and I was like
you know, I'd really love to dosomething like this.
And they were like no, and I'mlike but what if I?
And they were like no, and Iwas like okay.
So you know, that idea kind ofdied and I had kids and went
about my life.
That idea kind of died and Ihad kids and went about my life.
And then my youngest went tokindergarten and I was like okay
(03:50):
, like I have all this time nowI'm like what if I used to sell
Usborne books and like I lovedreading with my kids and you
know, like physical books, likeI 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.
(04:14):
So I just kind of started withthat and got a ton of book
donations.
So that was awesome.
Um, and yeah, just kind ofspiraled into books and meows
which my 12 year old she came upwith the name.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Oh, she did yeah, oh, shout out, I love that that's
so.
You've got three kids, likereading with them has been kind
of a part of your DNA as afamily and so, um, talk to me a
little bit about the pushtowards, like children's
literacy that Books and Meowslends itself to.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
It's really important for kids to have access to
books and to be read to and allthose things.
So I love to like be able tobring 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 encouragekids?
(05:10):
And then I know one of my umkids teacher said in the summer
like she'd be interested indoing story times.
So like we have that I thinkthat'll be really fun in the
summer, like have a story timewith the cats, so things like
that.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
That's awesome it's.
It's really cool that you'reyou and your business and like
in your kind of corner of theQuad Cities, you are pushing
that early childhood literacyand you've got connections that
have kind of helped fosteringthat and so, like a handful of
episodes back at QC, that'swhere we talked to Renee
Gellerman at United Way andUnited Way obviously it has a
whole push in that realm as welland it's just so cool seeing
(05:52):
that like different facets andexpertise of you know areas of
the community of the Quad Citiesare all kind of working toward
the same goal in just differentways.
Yeah, it's awesome to hear howyou are pushing for that as well
.
So kudos, kudos to you.
It's a great mission behind areally fun place.
What are some of the like youknow other community
(06:14):
integrations?
How do you work with otherentities?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
around the QC.
I know Teske's in Bettendorfhas a donation box out for us
and in December you know theyhad a tree with like wishlist
items, so like we get donationsfrom that.
So it's really nice.
And there are businesses where,if you know, like companies
(06:39):
like 3M, their employeesvolunteer and then they send us
money for that.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
That's awesome.
I love that communityintegration.
I always, you know, the morelike the more interviews I do on
QC, that's when podcast, I justsee how like there's so much
partnership and likecollaboration in the Quad Cities
, which I think is really uniqueas a region because, you know,
we're we're two different states, we're multiple different
cities, but it's like everybodyfinds a way to help each other
(07:07):
out and, you know, extend aservice or extend an idea and
it's just really, it's reallycool.
It sounds like you're seeingthat you know day to day as as
you're working and so you are avery busy person.
Yes, a little bit.
Let's get a little bit morepersonal with Nicole.
(07:28):
So you got the three kids,you're working a lot.
What do you all do for fun?
When you got let's pretend youhad a weekend off, what do you
guys go do?
What do you take your kids youguys go do?
What do you take your kids to?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
My kids love to go to the fun station.
They love going to parks.
We love going to movies and toconcerts, even if it's just
going out to eat.
There's a ton of restaurants, aton of places that the kids
love to go.
They each have their favorite,you know.
So, yeah, we just kind of getout, just explore new things.
(08:07):
We love Smith Island and goingthere's like a one mile little
loop that you can do.
We love that, and then you cansee all you know the wildlife
(08:30):
there's a lot of different liketypes of experiences you can
have.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So, like you know, I've got two little kids that
are pretty wild so I haven'tattempted anything too
structured with them yet.
But like I love the, I love theprojection that I will be
taking them to, like the I-74oculus, like the bridge, to
stand in the middle of thatreally beautiful view of the
Mississippi.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
River.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
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 differenttype of little, you know, family
, like splash pad there andplayground, and there's just a
lot of things to discover here.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
So yeah, and like Freight House Farmer's Market.
I love that.
Yeah, and like freight housefarmer's market, I love that.
Yeah, love me a good farmer'smarket, what's your?
And there's like that.
There's that little one inBettendorf in the summer, I
think it's.
I don't know, I don't even knowwhen it is Mondays and
Thursdays or something.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Well, we'll find the details and it will be in the
description of this podcast.
I'm gonna make a note we wantyou all to check out that
Bettendorf Farmer's Market Iactually have they have the best
corn, best corn.
Yes, hey, you know what I'mgoing to make that an activity
that I have to go check out.
So, thank you.
(09:44):
Right now I can't help butnotice and if, if you're
listening, I'll describe it foryou but you are wearing a
cookies by design shirt yes somany jobs.
That's one of one of your manyjobs.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
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 bitof everything.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yep shout out to cookies by design, as we're
being here on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, and they're delicious.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
So get back to back to books and meows a little bit,
if you had to, not to put youon 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 (10:48):
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 ninecats.
(11:12):
Um, the most we've had is 11,and I mean we do have a pretty
big space, um, but it's likeit's in an office building, like
set up like an office building,there's different rooms.
I'd love to kind of have like abig open space, because we have
had a paint party there before,but we have to limit it because
, know, I can only fit 12 peoplein that room.
So it would, it would be niceto like have a bigger open area
(11:37):
where we could do like biggerevents.
Um, we have hosted a couple ofbirthday parties.
That's fun, um, and it was, youknow, it was just kind of like
trial and error, like okay,let's see what happens, let's
try this, and I've been learningas I've been going, you know,
(11:59):
and it's just like, okay, thisworks, 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, andI think, you know, like cat yoga
would be super fun, but rightnow I just don't, I don't have
the space for it, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I mean you, you know you said you had a paint party
and you hosted like birthdayparties.
I mean it sounds like kind of aan unlimited event.
I'm thinking of thatopportunities.
I could see anything from youknow, a bachelorette party of a
girl that really likes cats, oror like field trips, you know,
(12:45):
for kids or anything in between.
I mean, the thing is like thecat, the cat lifestyle is so
niche and I definitely know ahandful of people who would love
to just go and like lay on thefloor, probably in books and
meows, and just let them, letthem roam.
You know, it's just.
I think you have a lot of likefuture ahead of of whatever you
(13:10):
decide to do with with books andmeows.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Thanks, yeah, I mean, I sure hope so.
It's definitely fun.
I love that you know I canbring my kids with me.
I love that other people canbring their kids Cause like,
like, my kids are growing seven,but you know I was always
looking for things that I coulddo with the kids, so I love that
.
It is like family friendly and,you know, just also just
(13:39):
teaching kids how to respectanimals and okay, you know we're
not going to chase the cat andthings like that.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, that's awesome.
I want to bring my.
I want to bring my boys as well.
It sounds like a really fullplace.
Um, what has been along the wayif you haven't mentioned it
already like what's been likeone of the biggest challenges?
Or, you know, aside from likethe initial um, getting the like
licensing to do it and actuallybeing able to like what, what
(14:12):
has been the hardest partgetting this going?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, obviously, like licensing and waiting, yeah,
stuff was hard, um, but I meanlike it all everything happens
for a reason, and like I alsowent through a divorce during
the whole process of gettingthis 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, youknow.
But I think right now thebiggest thing is trying to
(14:38):
figure out like hours, like whathours should we be open?
When are people going to come?
You've had days where we'reopen and nobody comes in and so
like that's kind of why you youknow, I started with like the
make a reservation.
That way, this is when we'rehere, this is when you can come
(14:58):
in.
Um, some people don't seem tolike that and they want to be
able to walk in.
So now we've kind of done likeduring the week, like okay, like
walk-ins are okay.
Weekends we still do thereservations because weekends
are just busier.
I think the hardest thing rightnow is like scheduling and
figuring out when to be open and, obviously, having help to be
(15:19):
open, and right now when my momhelps, my boyfriend and his
daughter help, so yeah, have youbeen in the Quad Cities for
like your whole life, or did youmove here at a?
certain point.
Yeah, so I grew up northwestsuburbs of Chicago, but we I
(15:42):
have been here for quite a while, so you're an upper class
citizen.
I would say yeah, like I loveit here, like I have no desire
to move back, like I love theschools, I love my friends, I
love the community, I love thearea.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah, so like coming kind of from you know Chicago
suburbs, living here now, why doyou think the Quad Cities was
the right place to start thistype of business?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
We have so much here, like it's.
It's not like, you know, likeChicago they have everything,
everything, but like I don'tfeel like I'm missing out on
anything here.
Um, so I, I mean, I love, Ilove that idea of like the cat
lounge here, because it's justanother thing that's unique to
our area, that adds to our area.
(16:30):
That kind of like brings likeI'm.
I'm a social person, I lovetalking to people, I love
socializing, so it's just likeanother aspect that like I get
to meet all these great peopleand help these cats.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
So it's just, I don't know, it's really fun yeah, I,
we like at Visit Club Cities, wehave, um, you know, sort of
like like an elevator pitch thatoutlines a handful of things
that really just make our areaunique and stand out and stuff
that we kind of stake claim to.
And one of those pieces of thatis that we are small town, feel
(17:06):
big city amenities.
And everything like you know,like your business has brought,
brought to you know thecommunity adds to that.
It's in the interpersonalcommunication, the way people
like treat each other, and it'salso in like the drive times,
which are like wildly, wildlylow if you guess anywhere I know
(17:32):
when people think about thetraffic here and I'm like this
is not traffic, that's just ared light, just a red light it's
just a red light.
I grew up kind of outsideDetroit and you know I was used
to my dad driving an hour towork.
You know one back and that wasnormal.
(17:52):
Everybody, everybody did that.
Everybody does that.
You know one back and that wasnormal.
Everybody, everybody did that.
Everybody does that, you know,in those bigger cities and it's
just it's it's really unique andit's really cool how much time
you can just save living here.
You know you can get anywherein under 20 minutes.
It's nice to see more amenitieslike yours popping up within
that bubble that we all canenjoy and help, you know, push
(18:13):
and run with.
So if you had to kind of give alittle bit word of
encouragement to somebody whohas a similar idea, maybe a kind
of an outlandish idea of abusiness or something they want
to do here, what would you?
What would you encourage themwith?
What would you say or advicehere, what would?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
you, what would you encourage them with?
What would you say or advice?
Um, I mean, it doesn't hurt totry.
That would be my thing, youknow.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
like try it see what happens, you might be pleasantly
surprised.
I love that.
So ask to when we're dealingwith cats, we're dealing with
animals and kids.
Has there been any highlightmoments, anything funny or cool
that you've witnessed since youguys have been open?
Speaker 2 (18:56):
My kids, I mean.
So there have been cats wherewe have this little cat bed it's
a little crown, a crown andthey would put a cat in there
and just walk around with herand she loved it.
You know, we have one of thosesweaters that have like the
little pouch that you can putthe cat in.
So we had a kitten and mydaughter would put her in there
(19:19):
and she'd like take a nap in thelittle Snuggie with my dog.
They really tried.
They really tried to get me totake that one home.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
You're like she's here, you can see her anytime
you want, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
But then, on the other hand, it's like we get
attached, you know, and thenthese cats get adopted, and then
I have to be like, okay, likeyou know, Fiona got adopted, and
then the cats, and then thekids, you know, they're like, oh
, and I'm like, I know, but likethat's the point.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Do you find that a lot with the people that adopt
your cats, that they kind ofstay in touch and keep you
posted on how they are?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
some do, and you know some will send me pictures and
post on the facebook.
So that's nice to see, that'sawesome yeah well,
congratulations.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
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 thingsare going well and I look
forward to coming and checkingit out at some point too.
Yeah, that'd be great.
I have to ask you our finalquestion of these podcasts.
It is to fill in the blank QC.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
That's where that's where you pet cats.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
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 timeand come?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
see you.
Facebook is Books and Meowswwwbooksandmeowsorg.
On the website there isreservations and you can click
on that and see all of ouravailable time slots.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Perfect, I'll put that all in the description, too
, of this podcast, for anyonewho's listening and wants to
learn a little bit more.
So, nicole, thank you again somuch.
Qc, that's where you pet cats.
I'm running with that one andI'll see you really soon with
that one, and we'll see youreally soon, thank you.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Thanks for listening to QC.
That's when a podcast poweredby Visit Quad Cities Text
VISITQC to 38314 for insiderevents, activities and updates
sent straight to your phone.
That's V-I-S-I-T-Q-C, one wordto 38314.
(21:35):
Message and data rates mayapply.
our final question of these podcasts.
It is to fill the blank.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
Uh, qc, that's where that's where you pet cats where
do you find a family ofcommunities connected by the
storied mississippi river, whereyoung explorers and dreamers,
investors and entrepreneursthrive?
Where can you connect with realpeople living and creating in a
(00:25):
place that's as genuine as itis quirky QC?
That's where.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Welcome to QC.
That's where I'm Katrina, yourhost, and I'm here today with
Nicole Puryear, the owner atBooks and Meows.
Nicole, how are you today?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Good Thanks.
So much for having me.
Thank you for being on.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So books and meows is something that I caught wind of
and I just want to know moreabout, first and foremost.
So like tell me about books andmeows and like, if someone
comes in, if I go in, what is myexperience and what do y'all do
there?
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So I really just make a place where people could come
in and essentially do whateverthey want, whether that's read a
book, color, just you know,have your kids, introduce your
kids to cats.
There are kids who love catsand you know, maybe a family
(01:20):
member is allergic and theycan't have cats.
So they can come in and, youknow, play with cats and then
also cats find homes.
So all of our cats areadoptable and it's just a really
nice setting.
The cats are in like a homesetting.
(01:40):
The cats live there full timeand they just you're able to see
their personalities.
So much in that setting.
So I think it's a really niceconcept.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
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 immediatelyand they go.
Hey, I didn't plan on it, butI'm bringing this cat home today
.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
So not so much.
We get a lot of people who areactively looking to adopt a cat
and they'll come in.
You have a lot of kids tryingto get the parents to adopt cats
, but it just really depends.
Some weeks we have no adoptionsand then last week we had two
(02:26):
adoptions, so it just, it reallyis just quite a flow yeah, so
okay, where do the cats comefrom?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
are you guys aligned with one of the shelters or
humane society?
How does that all work?
Speaker 2 (02:38):
yep, all the cats come from um humane society of
scott county.
You know, vet the cats, they'reall fixed, they're all up to
date on all their shots.
So we just do like the day today care for the cats and then
all adoptions go through them.
They approve people and thenthey pick the cats up from us.
It's such a cool.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
It's such a cool concept.
So walk me through kind of theinspiration behind creating
books and meows.
How did you get from day one totoday?
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Um, it was quite a long process.
When cat cafes first startedpopping up, I was like that's
really cool, like I'd love to dothat.
I'm an animal person.
I have a ton of animals, notjust cats, I have all the
animals.
So you know, and this was Idon't know 15 years ago maybe
(03:29):
you know, and I called thehealth department and I was like
you know, I'd really love to dosomething like this.
And they were like no, and I'mlike but what if I?
And they were like no, and Iwas like okay.
So you know, that idea kind ofdied and I had kids and went
about my life.
That idea kind of died and Ihad kids and went about my life.
And then my youngest went tokindergarten and I was like okay
(03:50):
, like I have all this time nowI'm like what if I used to sell
Usborne books and like I lovedreading with my kids and you
know, like physical books, likeI 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.
(04:14):
So I just kind of started withthat and got a ton of book
donations.
So that was awesome.
Um, and yeah, just kind ofspiraled into books and meows
which my 12 year old she came upwith the name.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Oh, she did yeah, oh, shout out, I love that that's
so.
You've got three kids, likereading with them has been kind
of a part of your DNA as afamily and so, um, talk to me a
little bit about the pushtowards, like children's
literacy that Books and Meowslends itself to.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
It's really important for kids to have access to
books and to be read to and allthose things.
So I love to like be able tobring 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 encouragekids?
(05:10):
And then I know one of my umkids teacher said in the summer
like she'd be interested indoing story times.
So like we have that I thinkthat'll be really fun in the
summer, like have a story timewith the cats, so things like
that.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
That's awesome it's.
It's really cool that you'reyou and your business and like
in your kind of corner of theQuad Cities, you are pushing
that early childhood literacyand you've got connections that
have kind of helped fosteringthat and so, like a handful of
episodes back at QC, that'swhere we talked to Renee
Gellerman at United Way andUnited Way obviously it has a
whole push in that realm as welland it's just so cool seeing
(05:52):
that like different facets andexpertise of you know areas of
the community of the Quad Citiesare all kind of working toward
the same goal in just differentways.
Yeah, it's awesome to hear howyou are pushing for that as well
.
So kudos, kudos to you.
It's a great mission behind areally fun place.
What are some of the like youknow other community
(06:14):
integrations?
How do you work with otherentities?
Speaker 2 (06:17):
around the QC.
I know Teske's in Bettendorfhas a donation box out for us
and in December you know theyhad a tree with like wishlist
items, so like we get donationsfrom that.
So it's really nice.
And there are businesses where,if you know, like companies
(06:39):
like 3M, their employeesvolunteer and then they send us
money for that.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
That's awesome.
I love that communityintegration.
I always, you know, the morelike the more interviews I do on
QC, that's when podcast, I justsee how like there's so much
partnership and likecollaboration in the Quad Cities
, which I think is really uniqueas a region because, you know,
we're we're two different states, we're multiple different
cities, but it's like everybodyfinds a way to help each other
(07:07):
out and, you know, extend aservice or extend an idea and
it's just really, it's reallycool.
It sounds like you're seeingthat you know day to day as as
you're working and so you are avery busy person.
Yes, a little bit.
Let's get a little bit morepersonal with Nicole.
(07:28):
So you got the three kids,you're working a lot.
What do you all do for fun?
When you got let's pretend youhad a weekend off, what do you
guys go do?
What do you take your kids youguys go do?
What do you take your kids to?
Speaker 2 (07:42):
My kids love to go to the fun station.
They love going to parks.
We love going to movies and toconcerts, even if it's just
going out to eat.
There's a ton of restaurants, aton of places that the kids
love to go.
They each have their favorite,you know.
So, yeah, we just kind of getout, just explore new things.
(08:07):
We love Smith Island and goingthere's like a one mile little
loop that you can do.
We love that, and then you cansee all you know the wildlife
(08:30):
there's a lot of different liketypes of experiences you can
have.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
So, like you know, I've got two little kids that
are pretty wild so I haven'tattempted anything too
structured with them yet.
But like I love the, I love theprojection that I will be
taking them to, like the I-74oculus, like the bridge, to
stand in the middle of thatreally beautiful view of the
Mississippi.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
River.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
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 differenttype of little, you know, family
, like splash pad there andplayground, and there's just a
lot of things to discover here.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
So yeah, and like Freight House Farmer's Market.
I love that.
Yeah, and like freight housefarmer's market, I love that.
Yeah, love me a good farmer'smarket, what's your?
And there's like that.
There's that little one inBettendorf in the summer, I
think it's.
I don't know, I don't even knowwhen it is Mondays and
Thursdays or something.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Well, we'll find the details and it will be in the
description of this podcast.
I'm gonna make a note we wantyou all to check out that
Bettendorf Farmer's Market Iactually have they have the best
corn, best corn.
Yes, hey, you know what I'mgoing to make that an activity
that I have to go check out.
So, thank you.
(09:44):
Right now I can't help butnotice and if, if you're
listening, I'll describe it foryou but you are wearing a
cookies by design shirt yes somany jobs.
That's one of one of your manyjobs.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
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 bitof everything.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yep shout out to cookies by design, as we're
being here on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Yeah, and they're delicious.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
So get back to back to books and meows a little bit,
if you had to, not to put youon 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 (10:48):
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 ninecats.
(11:12):
Um, the most we've had is 11,and I mean we do have a pretty
big space, um, but it's likeit's in an office building, like
set up like an office building,there's different rooms.
I'd love to kind of have like abig open space, because we have
had a paint party there before,but we have to limit it because
, know, I can only fit 12 peoplein that room.
So it would, it would be niceto like have a bigger open area
(11:37):
where we could do like biggerevents.
Um, we have hosted a couple ofbirthday parties.
That's fun, um, and it was, youknow, it was just kind of like
trial and error, like okay,let's see what happens, let's
try this, and I've been learningas I've been going, you know,
(11:59):
and it's just like, okay, thisworks, 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, andI think, you know, like cat yoga
would be super fun, but rightnow I just don't, I don't have
the space for it, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
I mean you, you know you said you had a paint party
and you hosted like birthdayparties.
I mean it sounds like kind of aan unlimited event.
I'm thinking of thatopportunities.
I could see anything from youknow, a bachelorette party of a
girl that really likes cats, oror like field trips, you know,
(12:45):
for kids or anything in between.
I mean, the thing is like thecat, the cat lifestyle is so
niche and I definitely know ahandful of people who would love
to just go and like lay on thefloor, probably in books and
meows, and just let them, letthem roam.
You know, it's just.
I think you have a lot of likefuture ahead of of whatever you
(13:10):
decide to do with with books andmeows.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Thanks, yeah, I mean, I sure hope so.
It's definitely fun.
I love that you know I canbring my kids with me.
I love that other people canbring their kids Cause like,
like, my kids are growing seven,but you know I was always
looking for things that I coulddo with the kids, so I love that
.
It is like family friendly and,you know, just also just
(13:39):
teaching kids how to respectanimals and okay, you know we're
not going to chase the cat andthings like that.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Yeah, that's awesome.
I want to bring my.
I want to bring my boys as well.
It sounds like a really fullplace.
Um, what has been along the wayif you haven't mentioned it
already like what's been likeone of the biggest challenges?
Or, you know, aside from likethe initial um, getting the like
licensing to do it and actuallybeing able to like what, what
(14:12):
has been the hardest partgetting this going?
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah, obviously, like licensing and waiting, yeah,
stuff was hard, um, but I meanlike it all everything happens
for a reason, and like I alsowent through a divorce during
the whole process of gettingthis 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, youknow.
But I think right now thebiggest thing is trying to
(14:38):
figure out like hours, like whathours should we be open?
When are people going to come?
You've had days where we'reopen and nobody comes in and so
like that's kind of why you youknow, I started with like the
make a reservation.
That way, this is when we'rehere, this is when you can come
(14:58):
in.
Um, some people don't seem tolike that and they want to be
able to walk in.
So now we've kind of done likeduring the week, like okay, like
walk-ins are okay.
Weekends we still do thereservations because weekends
are just busier.
I think the hardest thing rightnow is like scheduling and
figuring out when to be open and, obviously, having help to be
(15:19):
open, and right now when my momhelps, my boyfriend and his
daughter help, so yeah, have youbeen in the Quad Cities for
like your whole life, or did youmove here at a?
certain point.
Yeah, so I grew up northwestsuburbs of Chicago, but we I
(15:42):
have been here for quite a while, so you're an upper class
citizen.
I would say yeah, like I loveit here, like I have no desire
to move back, like I love theschools, I love my friends, I
love the community, I love thearea.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Yeah, so like coming kind of from you know Chicago
suburbs, living here now, why doyou think the Quad Cities was
the right place to start thistype of business?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
We have so much here, like it's.
It's not like, you know, likeChicago they have everything,
everything, but like I don'tfeel like I'm missing out on
anything here.
Um, so I, I mean, I love, Ilove that idea of like the cat
lounge here, because it's justanother thing that's unique to
our area, that adds to our area.
(16:30):
That kind of like brings likeI'm.
I'm a social person, I lovetalking to people, I love
socializing, so it's just likeanother aspect that like I get
to meet all these great peopleand help these cats.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
So it's just, I don't know, it's really fun yeah, I,
we like at Visit Club Cities, wehave, um, you know, sort of
like like an elevator pitch thatoutlines a handful of things
that really just make our areaunique and stand out and stuff
that we kind of stake claim to.
And one of those pieces of thatis that we are small town, feel
(17:06):
big city amenities.
And everything like you know,like your business has brought,
brought to you know thecommunity adds to that.
It's in the interpersonalcommunication, the way people
like treat each other, and it'salso in like the drive times,
which are like wildly, wildlylow if you guess anywhere I know
(17:32):
when people think about thetraffic here and I'm like this
is not traffic, that's just ared light, just a red light it's
just a red light.
I grew up kind of outsideDetroit and you know I was used
to my dad driving an hour towork.
You know one back and that wasnormal.
(17:52):
Everybody, everybody did that.
Everybody does that.
You know one back and that wasnormal.
Everybody, everybody did that.
Everybody does that, you know,in those bigger cities and it's
just it's it's really unique andit's really cool how much time
you can just save living here.
You know you can get anywherein under 20 minutes.
It's nice to see more amenitieslike yours popping up within
that bubble that we all canenjoy and help, you know, push
(18:13):
and run with.
So if you had to kind of give alittle bit word of
encouragement to somebody whohas a similar idea, maybe a kind
of an outlandish idea of abusiness or something they want
to do here, what would you?
What would you encourage themwith?
What would you say or advicehere, what would?
Speaker 2 (18:34):
you, what would you encourage them with?
What would you say or advice?
Um, I mean, it doesn't hurt totry.
That would be my thing, youknow.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
like try it see what happens, you might be pleasantly
surprised.
I love that.
So ask to when we're dealingwith cats, we're dealing with
animals and kids.
Has there been any highlightmoments, anything funny or cool
that you've witnessed since youguys have been open?
Speaker 2 (18:56):
My kids, I mean.
So there have been cats wherewe have this little cat bed it's
a little crown, a crown andthey would put a cat in there
and just walk around with herand she loved it.
You know, we have one of thosesweaters that have like the
little pouch that you can putthe cat in.
So we had a kitten and mydaughter would put her in there
(19:19):
and she'd like take a nap in thelittle Snuggie with my dog.
They really tried.
They really tried to get me totake that one home.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
You're like she's here, you can see her anytime
you want, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
But then, on the other hand, it's like we get
attached, you know, and thenthese cats get adopted, and then
I have to be like, okay, likeyou know, Fiona got adopted, and
then the cats, and then thekids, you know, they're like, oh
, and I'm like, I know, but likethat's the point.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
Do you find that a lot with the people that adopt
your cats, that they kind ofstay in touch and keep you
posted on how they are?
Speaker 2 (19:56):
some do, and you know some will send me pictures and
post on the facebook.
So that's nice to see, that'sawesome yeah well,
congratulations.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
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 thingsare going well and I look
forward to coming and checkingit out at some point too.
Yeah, that'd be great.
I have to ask you our finalquestion of these podcasts.
It is to fill in the blank QC.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
That's where that's where you pet cats.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
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 timeand come?
Speaker 2 (20:43):
see you.
Facebook is Books and Meowswwwbooksandmeowsorg.
On the website there isreservations and you can click
on that and see all of ouravailable time slots.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Perfect, I'll put that all in the description, too
, of this podcast, for anyonewho's listening and wants to
learn a little bit more.
So, nicole, thank you again somuch.
Qc, that's where you pet cats.
I'm running with that one andI'll see you really soon with
that one, and we'll see youreally soon, thank you.
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Thanks for listening to QC.
That's when a podcast poweredby Visit Quad Cities Text
VISITQC to 38314 for insiderevents, activities and updates
sent straight to your phone.
That's V-I-S-I-T-Q-C, one wordto 38314.
(21:35):
Message and data rates mayapply.
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