Hardware stores are learning what bodegas have known for years: cats bring patronage. More than defenders against rodents, felines are attractors of customers:
Daniel, a team member at Shoppers True Value Hardware, sleeps on the job, leaves food lying around and lets his co-workers clean up after him.
But the hardware store’s father-daughter owners, Thomas Simpson and Jessica Simpson, let him slide. That’s because many customers come into their South Portland, Maine, store specifically to see Daniel, and while they’re there, they buy something. Daniel has become such a draw that the store introduced Daniel-branded merchandise, including stickers that say, “I enjoy romantic walks to the hardware store to see Daniel.”
Not bad for a cat.
Like the Simpsons, many hardware-store owners have long adopted a kitty or two at their shops to help keep mice out of the bird feed and grass seed. But increasingly, they are discovering that the cats are more than just mousers. Customers—and their children—bond with the cats, who become beloved fixtures in the stores and inspire people to keep coming back. Many social-media-savvy stores feature their cats in online marketing to create buzz and build their customer base.
“People come in from all over the world just to see them,” says Shoppers True Value manager Lauren Springer of Daniel, who wears a bow tie, and the store’s other cat, an orange tabby named Bigfoot, who wears a necktie.”
See Beth DeCarbo, Hardware Stores Have a Secret Weapon for Wooing Customers (‘Once hired purely for pest control, feline ‘employees’ star on billboards, merchandise and social media to drive foot traffic and sales’), Wall Street Journal, October 12, 2026.