Kitty Charm School Expands

Launching your own business can feel like jumping off a cliff.

When that business is a cats-only boarding facility, even if you know there is already some demand for it, that cliff can seem breathtakingly high.

in launching her  in April 2011. Business grew steadily, picked up during the summer vacation months, ebbed slightly in the fall and then exploded over the holidays. Haynes recently expanded the 3,300-square-foot facility, repurposing some spaced planned for retail and nearly doubling the number of rooms at her 369 Miller Avenue facility.

“It’s hugely gratifying,” Haynes said of Kitty Charm School’s success. “I’m as shocked as much as anyone. I believed in it enough to put my own my money into it. But I was losing sleep when we launched. I knew a few people would show up but I had no idea that it would this much.”

The expansion included 10 additional rooms, which range from $22 to $45 per night, as well as eight rooms Haynes calls “temporary stops” that she felt compelled to add during the holidays with clients needing a place to put their cat for a day or two. It also allowed Haynes to move one of the cat play rooms to the storefront, allowing passers-by the chance to see cats like Elliot (at right) taking a spin on the cat wheel.

The new rooms came just in time, as Kitty Charm had as many as 60 cats over the Christmas holiday, more than double the fullest the facility had been since it opened.

Kitty Charm’s list of clients has surpassed 320, including approximately 415 cats. Haynes estimates that about half of her clients are from Mill Valley, while cats have come from as far as Canada in recent weeks

“There’s nothing else like this, and the word has continued to spread,” she said.

The 411: is located at 369 Miller Ave.