After a decade of making visits to the Bay Area with her treats-and-merch-filled truck, the winsome, whiskered one is going to park and stay here.
Northern California’s first Hello Kitty Cafe will open today, Friday, July 11, at Westfield Valley Fair in San Jose/Santa Clara — on the second floor, near Bloomingdale’s.
Kitty will be here in the flesh (er, plush) for meet-and-greets with the first 100 customers who make purchases from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today, Saturday and Sunday, according to the spokeswoman named Kat (of course) Nguyen-De Angelis.
The first 100 will also receive a Hello Kitty keepsake.
The 2,300-square-foot space features a grab-and go cafe in the front and a separate Bow Room in the back for afternoon tea during the day and “evening delights” (desserts) at night.
For the uninitiated, all you need to know about this ultra-popular Sanrio creation is that fans young and old find this cafe and Kitty’s offerings absolutely adorable. Besides decorated cookies and other sweets, products include Hello Kitty hoodies, T-shirts, bow-shaped water bottles, plush toys and enamel pins.
The owners of this cafe are the ones who opened the first U.S. Hello Kitty Grand Cafe in Irvine in 2016, Nguyen-De Angelis said.
Psssst, although Kitty is portrayed by her creator as an 8-year-old third-grader, she’s actually a bit older — 50 this year. But in the hearts of her fans, she will always be young and super-cute.