An Erewhon store in the Pacific Palisades.
Michio Kushi, Aveline Kushi, Tony Antoci
at Erewhon Market
Ah, Erewhon: health food mecca, celebrity favorite, trendy hangout, meme. The upscale grocery chain is all of these things, lately capturing the imagination of the always-online generation in a way that only purveyors of $22 smoothies could.
And, yet, there is something inherently charming about the unabashed opulence and the exorbitantly priced items Erewhon provides, even during a period of high inflation and wicked grocery prices in non-luxury markets. Four ounces of kale chips for $12.50? Apparently they’re delicious. A half-gallon bottle of “hyper-oxygenated” water for $26? Why not? Not to mention the company’s claim of supporting organic, regenerative farming, cage- and cruelty-free animal sourcing, locally and family-owned brands, and other environmentally conscious business practices.
Whatever the reason, Erewhon (an anagram of “nowhere”) is becoming a Southern California institution. It opened its 10th location in Pasadena last September and plans an 11th storefront in Glendale in 2025. The company acquired the 24,000-square-foot Glendale space earlier this year for $12.4 million. Although founded in the mid-1960s by Michio and Aveline Kushi, Erewhon did not gain its reputation as the health-wealth franchise it is today until married entrepreneurs Tony and Josephine Antoci purchased the brand in 2011.
The company isn’t just quietly expanding across Los Angeles, either, having dipped its toes earlier this year into the legal/urban planning realm. The company filed a lawsuit in May against the City of Los Angeles, aimed at preventing the demolition and redevelopment of an abandoned hotel adjacent to its Studio City location into a 520-unit multifamily complex. The company claims the city violated state law by eschewing a rigorous environmental assessment of the development in favor of a less rigorous study.
Still, whatever you may think of Erewhon, and of the high-priced health food trend in general, one aspect of their business is capital-T True: The $18 Olivia Rodrigo smoothie was genuinely good.
