After a 10-month pop-up at the Stanford Shopping Center, the kitten rescue nonprofit Mini Cat Town opened its first standalone location on California Avenue in Palo Alto.

The relocation comes after city planners issued a notice reclassifying Mini Cat Town from a “retail pet store” to a “kennel/boarding” facility. This new classification violated zoning regulations, triggering a 30‑day eviction notice, which ultimately forced the store to find a new location in March. According to Mini Cat Town co-founder Thoa Bui, the Stanford location was always intended to be temporary. 

“The community reacted really well to our 10-month pop-up location in Stanford,” Bui said. “Once the lease ended, we decided to find a new location in Palo Alto.” 

Founded in San Jose in 2015, the nonprofit rescues at-risk kittens and connects them with foster homes and adoptive families. 

Mini Cat Town also serves as a volunteer hub, drawing support from local high school students and other community members, Bui said. The new California Avenue location will offer similar services as past sites, including playtime with kittens, adoptions, fostering and volunteering, according to Bui.

In addition to rescuing kittens, Mini Cat Town assists shelters with a wide range of services depending on their needs. Bui said Mini Cat Town always reaches out to local animal shelters when moving into a new location to see how Mini Cat Town can assist them. 

Additionally, if local shelters are overwhelmed, Bui said Mini Cat Town can pull kittens from those shelters and put them into their own care.

With the Palo Alto location open, the organization hopes to begin placing at-risk kittens into foster and adoption homes as soon as possible. 

“We’ve been putting a lot of work into [the new location]”, Bui said. “The more locations we have, the more kittens we can rescue.”