diff --git a/.changeset/tall-lions-rescue.md b/.changeset/tall-lions-rescue.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..33c65c0b3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/tall-lions-rescue.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"@medusajs/medusa": patch
+---
+
+feat(medusa): remove soft delete from categories + adds indexes for categories
diff --git a/packages/generated/client-types/src/lib/models/ProductCategory.ts b/packages/generated/client-types/src/lib/models/ProductCategory.ts
index 58a0e95386..541d6db669 100644
--- a/packages/generated/client-types/src/lib/models/ProductCategory.ts
+++ b/packages/generated/client-types/src/lib/models/ProductCategory.ts
@@ -61,8 +61,4 @@ export interface ProductCategory {
    * The date with timezone at which the resource was updated.
    */
   updated_at: string
-  /**
-   * The date with timezone at which the resource was deleted.
-   */
-  deleted_at: string | null
 }
diff --git a/packages/medusa/src/migrations/1679950221063-category-remove-soft-delete.ts b/packages/medusa/src/migrations/1679950221063-category-remove-soft-delete.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..37fd79f2b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/medusa/src/migrations/1679950221063-category-remove-soft-delete.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import { MigrationInterface, QueryRunner } from "typeorm"
+
+export class categoryRemoveSoftDelete1679950221063 implements MigrationInterface {
+  public async up(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
+    await queryRunner.query(`DELETE FROM "product_category" WHERE "deleted_at" IS NOT NULL;`)
+    await queryRunner.query(`ALTER TABLE "product_category" DROP COLUMN "deleted_at";`)
+    await queryRunner.query(`DROP INDEX IF EXISTS "IDX_product_category_handle";`)
+    await queryRunner.query(
+      `CREATE UNIQUE INDEX "IDX_product_category_handle" ON "product_category" ("handle");`
+    )
+  }
+
+  public async down(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
+    await queryRunner.query(`DROP INDEX IF EXISTS "IDX_product_category_handle";`)
+    await queryRunner.query(`ALTER TABLE "product_category" ADD COLUMN "deleted_at" timestamp with time zone;`)
+    await queryRunner.query(
+      `CREATE UNIQUE INDEX "IDX_product_category_handle" ON "product_category" ("handle") WHERE deleted_at IS NULL;`
+    )
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/medusa/src/migrations/1679950645253-category-create-indexes.ts b/packages/medusa/src/migrations/1679950645253-category-create-indexes.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..33cea8ba15
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/medusa/src/migrations/1679950645253-category-create-indexes.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+import { MigrationInterface, QueryRunner } from "typeorm"
+
+export class categoryCreateIndexes1679950645253 implements MigrationInterface {
+  public async up(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
+    await queryRunner.query(`
+      CREATE INDEX "IDX_product_category_active_public" ON "product_category" (
+        "parent_category_id",
+        "is_active",
+        "is_internal"
+      ) WHERE (
+        ("is_active" IS TRUE) AND
+        ("is_internal" IS FALSE)
+      );
+    `)
+  }
+
+  public async down(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
+    await queryRunner.query(`
+      DROP INDEX "IDX_product_category_active_public";
+    `)
+  }
+}
diff --git a/packages/medusa/src/models/product-category.ts b/packages/medusa/src/models/product-category.ts
index 1617a035ef..43c97afe28 100644
--- a/packages/medusa/src/models/product-category.ts
+++ b/packages/medusa/src/models/product-category.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { generateEntityId } from "../utils/generate-entity-id"
-import { SoftDeletableEntity } from "../interfaces/models/soft-deletable-entity"
+import { BaseEntity } from "../interfaces/models/base-entity"
 import { kebabCase } from "lodash"
 import { Product } from "."
 import {
@@ -18,14 +18,14 @@ import {
 @Entity()
 @Tree("materialized-path")
 @Index(["parent_category_id", "rank"], { unique: true })
-export class ProductCategory extends SoftDeletableEntity {
+export class ProductCategory extends BaseEntity {
   static productCategoryProductJoinTable = "product_category_product"
   static treeRelations = ["parent_category", "category_children"]
 
   @Column()
   name: string
 
-  @Index({ unique: true, where: "deleted_at IS NULL" })
+  @Index({ unique: true })
   @Column({ nullable: false })
   handle: string
 
@@ -88,7 +88,6 @@ export class ProductCategory extends SoftDeletableEntity {
  * required:
  *   - category_children
  *   - created_at
- *   - deleted_at
  *   - handle
  *   - id
  *   - is_active
@@ -154,9 +153,4 @@ export class ProductCategory extends SoftDeletableEntity {
  *     description: The date with timezone at which the resource was updated.
  *     type: string
  *     format: date-time
- *   deleted_at:
- *     description: The date with timezone at which the resource was deleted.
- *     nullable: true
- *     type: string
- *     format: date-time
  */
diff --git a/packages/medusa/src/repositories/product-category.ts b/packages/medusa/src/repositories/product-category.ts
index a866ce4282..beb4af8648 100644
--- a/packages/medusa/src/repositories/product-category.ts
+++ b/packages/medusa/src/repositories/product-category.ts
@@ -109,10 +109,6 @@ export const ProductCategoryRepository = dataSource
         queryBuilder.leftJoinAndSelect(`${entityName}.${relation}`, relation)
       })
 
-      if (options_.withDeleted) {
-        queryBuilder.withDeleted()
-      }
-
       let [categories, count] = await queryBuilder.getManyAndCount()
 
       if (includeTree) {