The cult Los Angeles grocer Erewhon has finally crossed the Hudson, but in true Erewhon style, its debut in New York isn’t about accessibility - it’s about exclusivity. Tucked inside Ronnie Fieg’s new Kith Ivy/Padel 609 members-only complex in Greenwich Village, entry comes with a $36,000 initiation fee and $7,000 monthly dues. That’s $43,000 for the privilege of browsing Erewhon’s tonic bar in person.

This isn’t just a store opening - it’s a test case in whether New York’s elite will embrace Erewhon as more than a California curiosity and whether grocery shopping as performance still translates when behind velvet ropes.

📊 Supporting Stats

Erewhon reported selling up to 1,500 Hailey Bieber smoothies per day at the peak of its 2023 craze (Business of Fashion).
The US organic food market hit $67 billion in 2023 (Organic Trade Association), signalling appetite but also saturation in premium health categories.
Kith, Erewhon’s new partner, is valued at an estimated $1 billion after its stake sale in 2024 (Bloomberg), showing its power in bridging fashion, lifestyle, and community.

🧠 Decision: Did It Work?

From a brand-strategy lens, this move is more about symbolism than scale. Erewhon isn’t entering New York to sell groceries - it’s entering to maintain its mythos as the pinnacle of aspirational consumption. By situating itself inside Kith’s club, it fuses two forms of cultural capital: fashion credibility and wellness elitism.

Commercially, the footprint is tiny, with smoothies and juices as the only offerings. But culturally, it’s a flex. Erewhon is doubling down on exclusivity in a city where Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and boutique markets already dominate daily shopping. For New Yorkers, Erewhon isn’t about filling your fridge - it’s about signalling that you can afford not to.

📌 Key Takeouts

What happened: Erewhon partnered with Kith to open a tonic bar inside a $43,000-membership club in NYC’s Greenwich Village.
What worked: Maintains Erewhon’s positioning as more status symbol than supermarket; aligns with Kith’s cultural cachet.
What didn’t: Limits scale and access; risks being seen as self-parody in a city already stretched by inequality and affordability debates.
Signals: The rise of membership-only wellness as the next layer of lifestyle luxury; groceries become performance and social currency, not utility.
Brand lesson: Scarcity and cultural theatre can fuel desirability - but if overplayed, exclusivity risks alienating more than it attracts.

🔮 What We Can Expect Next

If this tonic bar proves successful, a standalone Erewhon in New York is inevitable. But the bigger signal is what’s next for luxury food retail. We may see more “clubhouse groceries” emerge, where wellness consumption is folded into social spaces, fashion, and sport. The risk? Cultural fatigue. The same TikTokers who made Erewhon a meme could just as quickly turn against $23 smoothies that require a $36,000 gate fee.

Erewhon isn’t betting on volume; it’s betting on vibe. And New York, perhaps more than anywhere, will decide whether that gamble holds weight east of Los Angeles.