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Don’t cancel me for what I’m about to say: But until last summer, I had never heard of Erewhon.
For the uninitiated, Erewhon is a 10-chain store that s been in Los Angeles since 1968. But in my defense, I wasn’t alive then, and since moving to the U.S. six years ago, I’ve only ever lived in New York City. Of course, I’ve traveled to L.A. on several occasions for work, but I was typically just in and out—no West Coast pun intended—and never spent a lot of time actually exploring the city.
Then last June, Hailey Bieber and her Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie were all over my social media feed. At that point, I still didn’t really know what Erewhon was, and I didn’t bother to look it up. I just figured it was yet another overpriced smoothie bar that I’d never care to visit.
Not even a group of fellow editors could convince me to go when we were back on the West Coast earlier this all during a four-day trip with Unilever. I could appreciate the colorful, Instagrammable drinks from afar, but there was no way in hell I was about to pay $20 or more for a smoothie when I had a very expensive Vitamix blender at home. Please give me a break.
Three weeks later, I was back on the West Coast when I accidentally came face-to-face with the Culver City location. I peeked in, and to my surprise there was a whole array of foods. I looked over to my friend Kim and said, “Wait, is this place a grocery store?” To which she replied with a laugh, “Yeah, you didn’t know that?” When I got back to my hotel, I texted another friend of mine and told her I wanted to go the following day. She was definitely rolling her eyes as she typed her response, but agreed.
We planned to meet there around 4 p.m., and the moment I walked into the store, I automatically understood the hype. The prices are, indeed, almost unbelievable—an Organic Whole Pecan Pie is $40, for example—but the store itself was like Virgo porn. The beauty aisle at the front was beautifully lit and perfectly organized, featuring every clean brand I could think of, from Osea to Supergoop! and Moon Juice. Each section after that, from sauces to dry pastas to even meats, were pristine.
There were items I had never seen before, like cashew-milk yogurt and gourmet organic ramen brands, and a few old reliables that I was slightly shocked were in the aisles, like Rao s and Michael’s of Brooklyn. And while I’m personally not allergic to anything but people’s BS, it was nice to see how attentive Erewhon’s selection was to allergies and dietary restrictions. There were gluten-free and vegan versions of practically everything.
Then came the glorious produce aisle—color-coordinated and perfectly stacked, with each vegetable looking like it was picked straight from Oprah’s garden. That is the exact moment I gave in and became an Erewhon believer.
Truth be told, the organic food retailer technically isn’t that far off from say, a Sumac store in New York City. But what has given Erewhon its edge is the fact that it’s both exclusive—they only have 10 locations and they’re all in LA—and aspirational, a formula the fashion industry has used to drive sales for decades. It’s the kind of place you go to for a one-of-a-kind, elevated experience.
And then there s the fact that it s almost as good for celebrity-spotting as The Ivy. Erewhon uses celebrity collaborations to elevate the brand (Bieber isn t the only star who has created a limited-edition smoothie; Kourtney Kardashian Barker and Miranda Kerr have, too). It s not really something you’d expect from a grocery chain—and that’s why it works. Now there s also a Balenciaga collab, firmly solidifying the fact that Erewhon has become a tourist destination of sorts.
Every day is a sunny day in L.A., but Erewhon has figured out how to bring the masses into a grocery store to spend a lot of cash to get a new part of the full West Coast experience. Myself included. (Yes, I had the the Strawberry Skin Glaze Smoothie, and I liked it. Sue me.)