The Hello Kitty Cafe in downtown Vancouver opens at noon, but it is common to see a small line of people waiting outside well before then.
Since the cafe launched in May, a steady stream of fans have come to check out their favourite cartoon feline-themed cafe.
On the ground floor of the two-storey space – which is mostly pink inside – there is a small area where customers can order drinks, cakes and ice cream, and buy merchandise, although the shelves are a bit bare.
“Sorry, we’ve run out of stock. Everything has been selling fast,” says Ken Lam Cheuk-hang, the cafe’s owner. Fans have snapped up the baseball caps, mugs, thermoses, keychains and badges; handbags, T-shirts and umbrellas are still available.
“They come to buy the merchandise because it’s exclusive to Vancouver,” he says. Shipments cannot arrive fast enough and items are sold as soon as they replenish the shelves.
