Catbird Opens First West Coast Store, Bringing Demi-Fine Jewelry to Seattle

Brooklyn's Catbird opened its first Seattle storefront at University Village on April 2, bringing the welded bracelet service and display cases of demi-fine gold jewelry that have made the brand a fixture of considered, everyday dressing to the Pacific Northwest.

The new shop at 2623 NE University Village Street sits in the same outdoor mall as Apple, Lululemon, and Anthropologie, a lineup that signals the strategic register Catbird has cultivated since founder Rony Vardi invested $16,000 of her personal savings into a rented space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2004. That first shop sold clothing, iron-ons, and jewelry Vardi made herself during quiet afternoons. Over two decades, the brand shed its multi-category origins entirely and helped define a category in the process: demi-fine, the zone between fast fashion jewelry and traditional fine jewelry, built on real precious metals at prices that don't demand a special occasion.

Seattle's store interior follows the soft green palette of the brand's recent openings, with cases showcasing the 14k solid gold and sterling silver pieces, thin stacking rings, layerable chains, and small charms that the brand positions as meant for daily, uninterrupted wear.

That last word matters here: uninterrupted. The Seattle location offers Catbird's Forever Bracelet service, in which a jeweler custom-fits a clasp-free 14k gold bracelet and welds it directly onto the wrist. Catbird calls the welding flash a "zap" and has been doing it since 2017; the brand has since zapped more than 150,000 Forever pieces onto customers at its stores. The service, widely credited with accelerating the permanent jewelry trend that swept social media after 2020, is available by appointment or walk-in at the University Village location.

Opening weekend drew the kind of crowd the brand has learned to cultivate at launches. The first visitors received limited-edition charms and tote bags; giveaways, wine, and mini floral bouquets were on offer throughout the weekend. It was the kind of activation designed to convert a curious first visitor into someone who leaves wearing something they'll never take off.

Seattle is the latest city in an expansion that has taken Catbird from its Williamsburg flagship to SoHo and Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, then to Boston, Georgetown in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia. For a brand that built much of its audience through e-commerce, each new store is a reminder that some purchases, particularly the ones welded onto your body, still benefit from being made in person.