A Wren Says

TikTok will have you believe that Erewhon is the most unnecessarily expensive grocery store in the world. They phrase it as a luxury grocery store with outrageous prices. If there are two things that I’m curious about it is luxury and food. This seemed like the perfect mission for me.

Here’s the issue. When I visited, I found that’s not what the store is.

To be honest, based on how people had talked that place up, I was expecting to see gut boosting octopus gummy candies dipped in gold. Nothing there surprised me. If you have been to a Whole Foods or a Sprouts, or a Fresh Market, or the general natural foods stores that exist in all parts of the country, the products at Erewhon won’t shock you. Well, they do sell Goop Kitchen prepared meals that are quite expensive. And $20 for a smoothie is wild. But the other products, nah homie, the prices are on par with what I would expect such items to cost based on the Los Angeles market and the equivalent pricing in other grocery stores. So what is it?

Two things

1. Erewhon is built around more natural ingredients, which drives up costs.

2. People love a social media bandwagon.

It got really popular to talk about how outrageous Erewhon was. Everyone had to make their own video to hop on the trend. And I, too, chose to head out there driven by the hype. (And the hope of finding unique snacks.)

While I don’t think that Erewhon would necessarily position itself as a luxury grocery store, they have to lean into that hype. Not fighting back on who they really are, but embracing this new set of shoppers who see the brand as akin to a status symbol or must stop tourist attraction.

As for my thoughts, I would definitely go back, to discover what’s new in and try their next viral smoothie.