Cookie

Mike has run this First Avenue shop for 35 years. "Maybe before you born," he said.

Cookie is four. She showed up as a kitten and never left. At first she was just a cat. Then people started showing up with cameras.

"Pretty famous that cat," Mike told us.

That was an understatement.

People find the store through Instagram. NPR came by. The New York Times did a piece. A crew from Japan once flew in specifically to film her. Mike did not fully understand why, but he let them shoot. He has learned not to ask too many questions when strangers crouch on his floor with professional equipment pointed at a cat.

When we asked how many visitors come in just to see Cookie, Mike thought about it for a moment.

"Maybe 14,000 a year," he said.

The number sounds high until you watch it happen.

A woman walked in while we were there. She saw Cookie on the counter and immediately pulled out her phone. She did not buy anything. She took six photos, said "thank you," and left. Mike nodded. He has seen this before. He sees it every day.

Cookie has been in the news, on Instagram, and in a production crew's footage from Tokyo. At the store, she is still on the counter while strangers crouch down to say hello.

She does. Then she goes back to whatever she was doing before anyone walked in.

She will sit still for this one too.