Book store's video inspired online pet retailer to give

Nov. 30—A simple technology-aided trick of the trade put a book store/cat adoption site on a popular online retailer's radar following a TikTok video of cats looking for adoption at a Bewley Building book shop.

Holly Edwards of Lock City Books started housing cats in her store last November and this year constructed a corner of her space to house kittens and adult cats, that were up for adoption from Cat by Cat Inc., a local shelter.

Edwards said that TikTok has been a great tool to keep her small business going. Over the past two years she has sold and shipped several books to readers across the country, many of which were seen in often-viral videos she makes of books in her shop.

"I reached out on TikTok to see if they'd like to help us decorate for the holidays," Edwards said, noting she was a big fan of the site, but just didn't have the budget for it. The video got over 1,600 views and 600 likes and many viewers also sent it to be viewed by Chewy.com, the online pet supply company that Edwards was wooing.

The video was made in October and in November, Edwards found four boxes of cat-related supplies from the company. Free of charge.

The holiday blessing included a cat house, a reindeer scratching post, two Santa hat stockings that work as sleep areas, two cat tunnels, two scratching posts and a box of catnip, cat toys, fake mice and etc. Edwards said that there was so much that she donated one of the boxes to Cat by Cat Inc., to bring in the new year for the animals at the shelter.

Edwards talked a little about social media. She noted one of her videos went viral with 178,000 views and the planner she was promoting in the video sold 200 copies almost immediately.

"It's a really great took to reach people across the country," she said.

Also of note, Edwards said that Small Business Saturday was extra special because the shop found a forever home for one of its cats.

This is the 24th adoption that the book shop has facilitated.