For years, New Yorkers have speculated, fantasized and TikTok’d about the day Erewhon might cross the Hudson. Back in 2023, a video falsely claiming a Bushwick grocery store was the chain’s first NYC location sparked confusion and long lines, with crowds wrapping around the block to glimpse what turned out to be a very earnest City Fresh Market.
Well, it’s finally happening. Sort of.
The cultishly expensive L.A. grocer is at long last opening a New York location, maybe as early as this fall. But it won’t be a full store. Instead, Erewhon’s East Coast debut will be a “tonic bar,” tucked inside Kith Ivy, a new private members club in the West Village.
There’s a catch: You’ll need to cough up $36,000 just to get in the door — plus $7,000 a year in dues to stay there. Yes, even by Erewhon standards, that’s a lot of cold-pressed cabbage.
The bar will operate daily from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the ninth floor of 120 Leroy St. — a members-only space that also features paddle courts and a Cafe Mogador, all dressed in green marble and dark wood. Erewhon’s signature SoCal casualness has been traded for Ivy League formality, complete with a dress code warning. “Any guest who does not appear sufficiently well-presented may be refused entry,” the club’s website announces.
Nonmembers aren’t entirely shut out: Smoothies and juices will be available via Postmates or Uber Eats “within a select radius.”
So yes, Erewhon has finally arrived in New York. Just don’t show up in flip-flops. — OREN PELEG
This story appeared in the Sept. 18 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
