Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cat scratch fever: Hello Kitty truck draws hundreds in downtown Spokane

The kitty craze is on in downtown Spokane.

If you passed by River Park Square on Saturday afternoon, you more than likely saw a line of upward of 250 people – children, adults, families, an overabundance of pink – chatting happily in the April sunshine as they waited their turn at the Hello Kitty truck, a traveling emporium of merchandise and snacks featuring the bobble-headed, beribboned Japanese icon.

The truck is one of two mobile Kitty merchandise stations making their way across the country, stopping off at cities from Los Angeles to New York and gathering hundreds of fans each stop they make. For its younger customers, the pink truck is an excuse to indulge in cuteness and sugar; for their parents, it’s an exercise in nostalgia.

“It was my favorite store when I was a kid,” said April Snider, standing in line with her sister Diana about 20 places back from the truck. “If you lost a kid at the mall, there was a good chance that that was where you’d find them.”

Hello Kitty was created by the Japanese company Sanrio in 1974, and exported to the United States in 1976. Laconic but instantly recognizable, the character’s worth was estimated at $7 billion in 2014.

Though initially branded to adolescent girls, the character’s appeal appears to have found a broader audience over the years.

“We came out for the kids,” said Keith Lawler, who waited in line flanked by his wife and three young children. “But yeah, I guess me too. I mean, it’s Hello Kitty, right?”