Locked In: What We Can Learn From Hailey Bieber and the Purveyor of $20 Smoothies

In this edition:

Why Erewhon?

Erewhon is Hella Dope

The Origin Story of An Iconoclast Rising

The Most Intelligent Grocery Store

"This That Gas, You Better Know"

"Ships Everywhere, Arrives 2 Days"

"DeBloat in Under an Hour"

Premium Product Position and Pricing Strategies that Work

Innovative Packaging and Product Presentation Techniques

Health and Wellness Trend Integration in Product Offerings

Effective Use of Storytelling and Hella Brand Narratives In-Store

Curated Product Selection and Emerging Category Insights

The Highest Per Caps in the Industry

Conclusion

Why Erewhon?

Why is the Los Angeles premium natural foods market Erewhon so popular?? Is it the $20 smoothies or the carefully curated Erewhon private label brands?? Is it because they are a Certified B Corp translating to “certified organic retailer”?? Clearly, it is not their reputation as one of the most expensive grocery stores in the country.? Many of you have probably never heard of Erewhon and those that have probably written it off as a Los Angeles phenomenon related to over-hyped A-list celebrity sightings and being in one of the most high-cost/high-income markets.

Erewhon is Hella Dope

Regardless of how you slice it, Erewhon is hella dope.? Los Angeles has a love-hate relationship with its ten-store Erewhon Market natural foods chain.? Erewhon is considered to be the “first natural food store” and is one part upscale natural foods store and one part touristy IG magnet thanks to a string of celebrity endorsements capped by the eponymous $20 Hailey Bieber Strawberry Glaze Skin smoothie.? If Hailey is not your jam there are also other celebrity-endorsed smoothies from Olivia Rodrigo, Sofia Richie, and Winnie Harlow.? Yes, Erewhon has star power too.

“Gilga is like Erewhon for culture,”?

Actor/Rapper, Donald Glover on describing his new production company/incubator/cultural library, Gilga in a 2023 GQ interview?

The Origin Story of an Iconoclast Rising

Erewhon Market can trace its roots back to 1966. Erewhon was founded by a Japanese immigrant husband and wife team, Michio Kushi and Aveline Kushi.? Michio Kushi is noted for helping to introduce modern macrobiotics to the United States in the early 1950s.? Aveline Kushi was also an evangelist for macrobiotic diets and promoting world peace.? They founded Erewhon in Brookline, Massachusetts.? Coincidentally both Michio and Aveline succumbed to cancer, Michio died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 88 in 2014 and Aveline transitioned after a long battle with cervical cancer at 78 years of age in 2001.??

The Most Intelligent Grocery Store

Even more intriguing than its stores is the origins of its name.? Don’t get it twisted, Erewhon’s name is not the name of a character from a J.R.R. Tolkien novel.? Erewhon Market’s “Erewhon” comes from the 1872 satirical novel Erewhon by English writer Samuel Butler.? In the novel, Erewhon is an anagram derived from “nowhere”.? In the novel “Erewhon” is a satirical utopia.? The novel satirizes various aspects of Victorian society including where individuals are responsible for their own health and prosecuted for the crime of being ill.? The Erewhon novel is also one of the first to explore ideas of artificial intelligence.? Erewhon has to be the most intelligently named grocery store in America.

"This That Gas, You Better Know"?

If Erewhon had an IQ, it would be genius level and I feel pretty smart for having visited.? I first stumbled upon Erewhon during a trip to Los Angeles several years ago.? I bought a slice of “Organic Pecan Pie”.? I brought it home, ate it, and nearly died and went to heaven.? I liked the pie so much I went back for more.??

I did not try the “Hailey Bieber” smoothie until January 2024.? I was immediately taken under by its yin and yang spell of opposites from mild strawberry sweetness complimented by the sweeter white swirls of organic coconut creme.? It is truly a worthy experience and IMO better enjoyed not stirred, even at the lofty price of $20.

So far I have visited three of the ten Erewhon stores.? All ten are sequestered in L.A. County and sometimes hard to reach especially when the parking can be more challenging than a Midtown Manhattan Trader Joe's.??

“Ship Everywhere, Arrives 2 Days”

Despite Erewhon’s isolation from the rest of the world, they will ship anywhere with a two-day arrival according to their website.? Shipping defeats the purpose.? You have to visit an Erewhon to get the full effect of organized chaos and grocery IQ dopeness.? The stores I visited were all less than 20,000 square feet.? Each Erewhon I visited had its own unique personality.? The Palisades store with its produce and shelves so perfectly aligned and organized looks like a Hollywood set.? The fruit is stacked and displayed so perfectly that it has a color-coded effect.? It was almost mesmerizing.??

On the other end of the spectrum, clocking in at 10,400 square feet the Venice Beach store is organized chaos as it feels not much larger than a 7-Eleven including a pint-sized parking lot with a full-time valet and security officer directing traffic.? Yet, the Venice Beach store despite all its hurried G-Wagon surfer tech bros and gals, has all the Erewhon DNA, through and through.? The Erewhon brand consistency is strong from a full-on cafe to the freshly squeezed juices costing as much as a full-order Amazon Fresh.

Erewhon has its own lines of private label brands and they do their own brands very well as they not only snag premium end cap space, they feature on-point marketing insights to boot.? It also looks like Erewhon is attempting to spread its tentacles without opening more stores.? I on a recent visit to San Diego’s Hotel del Coronado I witnessed several “exclusive” Erewhon own-brand displays at a rapturously busy convenience store located next to the hotel’s pool and iconic beach.??

“Debloat in Under an Hour”

Again why is Erewhon such a rage?? Here are five things we can learn from the magnanimous purveyor of $20 smoothies and $5 chocolate chip cookies that can help explain the popularity.

Premium Product Positioning and Pricing Strategies that Work

As I mentioned earlier, Erewhon does a great job marketing their own private label items, but overall they do a great job of curating and selling premium items from heirloom fruits and veggies to snacks.? While Erewhon’s prices on some items may seem steep, many of their center store items are competitively priced.? The challenge is a great deal of their center store SKUs are rare and hard to find items from small businesses that lack the scale and as such have higher pricing versus say a competitive national brand.? Erewhon also has its own $100/year to $200/year membership plans that provide insider savings along with in-store perks and discounts.

Innovative Packaging and Product Presentation Techniques

Erewhon’s merchandising and packaging of its own products is cutting-edge.? Their stores are a master class in merchandising with every single SKU carefully thought out prior to placement.??

Erewhon also has sampling.? On one visit to their Studio City store, I was offered a sample of an Organic Berry Good cake.? Of course, it was damn near life-changing and the next time I visited I picked up a slice of Organic Berry Good cake AND a slice of Pecan Pie!

Health and Wellness Trend Integration in Product Offerings

Erewhon is up on all of the latest food trends, especially anything relating to eating healthy.? Given their origin story and history, it is no surprise.? Everything from CBD drinks to keto pizzas make the cut.? They cook all their cafe-prepared and made-to-order foods without any seed oils and minimally processed additives.? Also, the Hailey Bieber smoothie was introduced in 2022 alongside the launch of Bieber’s skincare brand, Rhode.? Erewhon knows trend integration.

Effective use of Storytelling and Hella Brand Narratives In-Store

Product origin stories are second nature to Erewhon.? Many products feature detailed information about their origins, including the farmers, producers, or artisans behind them. This creates a connection between the consumer and the product's journey.? Erewhon also effectively uses local vendor spotlights, sustainability narratives, and recipes/lifestyle tips.

Curated Product Selection and Emerging Category Insights

Erewhon often introduces niche health food products in emerging health categories before they become mainstream, such as adaptogens, collagen supplements, or mushroom-based foods.? They also offer an extensive selection of restricted diet option products catering to specific diets like keto, paleo, or plant-based, often featuring lesser-known brands.

Erewhon is known for stocking new and innovative drinks, from kombucha variations to adaptogenic lattes.? Erewhon also curates a selection of clean beauty and wellness natural skincare, supplements, and wellness products, often introducing new brands to the market.? On a recent visit, I was blown away by their “Arrae” Gastrointestinal brand on an endcap with the top shelf dedicated to displaying one each of each of the line's four key items each with its own compelling claim; i.e., “Bloat, Debloat in Under an Hour”.? Also, Erewhon’s in-house cafes create unique, health-focused prepared meals, often incorporating trending ingredients.? Erewhon knows curation.

The Highest Per Caps In the Industry

Erewhon is a juggernaut on the scale of what can best be described as a premium upscale anti-big-box natural foods grocer.? This is my endorsement.? While firm numbers are hard to come by given Erewhon is privately owned, Erewhon's estimated annual revenue is a respectable $194.1M per year.? That is 19 Million dollars per store annually and given the small square footage of their stores Erewhon’s economics gets even more intriguing quickly.? In addition with a total of 575 employees or an estimated revenue per employee of $337,500 per employee annually this puts Erewhon on top-tier grocery status with over half the industry average of $1500000.? Can you say “organic $20 smoothie?

Conclusion

So whether you are feening for an Erewhon Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie or Masa Cobanero Tortilla Chips, get yourself to an Erewhon quickly.? I hope Erewhon expands outside L.A. County soon (especially to San Diego) because all things popular in L.A. can come and go like last season’s fashions and now could be an excellent time to expand before they get overexposed in L.A.? Erewhon’s stores are plain and simply buttery dopeness and that is why we have so much to learn from them.