Photography, storytelling, and advocacy project documenting NYC bodega working cats, with a 120-photo book from Quarto Publishing due October 2026.
Key Takeaways
State sanitary code bans animals in food establishments, exposing owners to fines for cats that have lived in stores for a decade.
Two bills, Int. 1471 at NYC Council and A08341 at State Assembly, would legalize bodega cats; 14,000+ petition signatures drove them to committee.
The book profiles distinct working roles: revenue-drivers like Jimmy of Second Avenue, territorial basement-clearers, and constants who outlast neighborhood turnover.
Commercial arm places brand products in real NYC bodegas and produces original content; featured in NYT, NPR, and 100+ outlets.
Sister company Cats About Town Tours covers NYC working cat history: dock strays, federally-salaried post office cats, and brewery cats who never missed a shift.
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters framed bodega cats primarily as pest control infrastructure, not pets; rat elimination is the practical justification that makes the legal gray zone a real policy problem for owners.
A crowd-sourced ShopCats iPhone app previously mapped store cats but appears to have been taken down, pointing to unmet demand for a live, location-based directory beyond a static book.
Comparisons to Kedi (2016 Istanbul documentary) and the existing “Shop Cats of New York” book suggest a proven audience and genre, but also that this project enters a field with prior art.
Notable Comments
@noplace1ikegone: “You can’t have a great product without proper security” – sharpest line in the thread, treating cats as literal store security.
@jackconsidine: Wanted a living map like NYC’s Trees project rather than a book; multi-generation cat lineages (Ice Spice, Olivia) illustrate the directory use case.
