The Store Cats of San Francisco

Store cats provide free, comforting companionship when shoppers make eye contact with relaxed animals in everyday places. In 2022, Chris Arvin created a map of San Francisco store cats, marking particularly friendly ones and advising people not to wake sleeping cats. Four years later, a tourist’s post on r/sanfrancisco grew into a detailed census of cats still working at specific counters. The updated effort expanded beyond the original by collecting names and locations from community reports, then sorting cats by confidence based on recent mentions. Most cats appeared in newer reports, while some relied on the earlier map. One cat disappeared, prompting citywide debate, and a new cat was added after surviving a recent catnapping.

"There is a specific kind of joy that only a store cat can deliver. You go in for a tallboy or a bag of cat litter (the irony is not lost on anyone) and you leave having made eye contact with a sphinx asleep on the register. It costs nothing. For a few seconds, the city is just a warm animal ignoring you, and that is enough."

"In 2022, the designer and transit gadfly Chris Arvin did the civic work nobody asked for and everybody needed: Arvin mapped them. "San Francisco Store Cats," stars next to the particularly friendly ones, a polite note reminding you not to wake the sleeping ones. Four years later, we wanted to see who was still on shift, and so did San Francisco."

"A single thread on r/sanfrancisco, started by a tourist hunting a bodega cat for their kid, turned into a sprawling, lovingly argued census of who is still working which counter. Arvin, the map's own maker, showed up in the replies to admit it was overdue for a refresh. We took that as an assignment."

"On the color codes: Green ("reportedly around") means the cat turned up in a recent account: this week's thread, a recent review, or some other 2024-to-2026 sign. Cats are old, or wander, or get whisked off in a stranger's Honda, so a green pin marks a recent mention, not a guarantee the cat will be there when you are. Amber means the cat was on Arvin's 2022 map and didn't resurface."

Read at The Bold Italic