Picture it. You and your significant other have ridden your bikes to the Point along the Three Rivers Heritage Trail and are now exploring Downtown. Then you see it. Through the windows bunnies, cats, and coffee. Is this heaven? No, it’s the soon-to-open Hop Along Café.
LGBTQ+ owned and operated Hop Along Café will be opening on Stanwix Street as a full-service coffee and non-alcoholic drink bar featuring two rooms of adoptable animals. One room will feature adoptable rabbits from Hop Along Café’s rescue arm and one room will feature adoptable cats from Trash Cat Rescue. Patrons will be able to visit the kitties or bunnies in 45-minute increments.
Hop Along will serve De Fer Coffee, stocking Chez Lapin Candles, and featuring art from a myriad of local artists. The café bar will also feature Man Eating Tiger tea blends, specialty hand-crafted non-alcoholic beverages with spirits and tonics from The Open Road Bar, and a rotating menu of seasonal snacks. A convenient grocery selection is planned.
As the café works through some supply chain delays, they plan for a soft opening later this month with a full opening later this fall. Keep an eye out for regular pop-up events at the location between now and official opening, including fashion shows, dance parties, and art nights.
Owner Bex Tasker (they/them) and General Manager Nika Gill (she/they) are proud and excited to bring The Hop Along Café to Pittsburgh. Gill is a born and raised Pittsburgher and Tasker moved here from Venango County, PA in 2014. Gill is a CAPA graduate and has worked both in vintage clothing consignment and at a local cat café.
Tasker and Gill celebrate their space as explicitly queer and inclusive while also providing a sober space in Downtown Pittsburgh.
You can contribute to their Kickstarter campaign here. And follow the café on Instagram and Facebook.
