Erewhon Market ( ) is an American upscale grocery chain with ten locations, all in

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the List of United States counties and county equivalents, most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 202 ...

. In June 2021, Erewhon became a Certified B Corporation.

History

Erewhon was founded in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts, in 1966 by Michio and Aveline Kushi. The name "Erewhon" is derived from the 1872 satirical novel ''

Erewhon ''Erewhon: or, Over the Range'' () is a utopian novel by English writer Samuel Butler (novelist), Samuel Butler, first published in 1872, set in a fictional country discovered and explored by the protagonist. The book is a satire on Victorian ...

'' by Samuel Butler. In the novel, Erewhon, an

anagram An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. For example, the word ''anagram'' itself can be rearranged into the phrase "nag a ram"; which ...

of "nowhere," is a

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

in which individuals are responsible for their own health and prosecuted for the crime of being ill. The Erewhon Organic brand was originally a health foods producer with a single store in Boston. The Kushis moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and opened Erewhon's oldest operating location, in the Fairfax District, in 1969. In 1979, the brand was purchased from bankruptcy by employee Tom DeSilva. In 2011, Tony and Josephine Antoci purchased the Fairfax District store from the widow of Tom DeSilva.Grocer is on a natural growth path
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'', Ronald D. White, January 31, 2016 The Antocis created and developed the brand into an upscale supermarket.Organic Grocer Erewhon Eyes Expansion After Private Equity Deal
Chloe Sorvino, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'', October 7, 2019 Following several years of increasing financial performance, New York–based

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

firm Stripes Group purchased a substantial minority stake in Erewhon in 2019. With ten locations in Los Angeles County, the brand has been compared to the early years of

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...

. As of 2023, Erewhon ships nationwide to all 50 states, and also ships to Australia, Canada and the UK. In 2024, Erewhon filed an environmental lawsuit to block the construction of a mixed-use development which would include 520 apartments (78 of which were subsidized affordable housing), ground floor retail and restaurants on the lot of the vacant Sportsmen's Lodge hotel near its Studio City location.

Locations

* Fairfax District (opened 1969) * Calabasas (opened 2014) *

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

(opened 2016) *

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

(opened 2018) * Pacific Palisades (opened 2019) * Silver Lake (opened 2020) * Studio City (opened 2021) *

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

(opened 2022) *

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...

(opened 2023) *

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...

(opened 2023)

Upcoming locations

Four new locations have been announced for opening: in Glendale,

West Hollywood West Hollywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Incorporated in 1984, it is home to the Sunset Strip. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, its population was 35,757. History Most historical writings about West Hollywood be ...

, and Manhattan Beach in 2025, and in Thousand Oaks in 2026.https://ktla.com/news/local-news/upscale-southern-california-grocery-chain-erewhon-is-expanding/

References

External links

* {{Official website Retail companies established in 1980 Supermarkets based in California Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Companies based in Los Angeles Health food stores Privately held companies based in California Venice, Los Angeles Santa Monica, California Silver Lake, Los Angeles Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles Calabasas, California Upper class culture in the United States Certified B Corporations in the Food & Beverage Industry

History

Locations

Upcoming locations

See also

References

External links