LA\u2019s most luxurious grocery store is reportedly set to open in the Big Apple \u2014 and it could cost you $43,000 just to get through the door.<\/p>\n
Erewhon Market, the high-end organic grocer with 11 locations in Los Angeles, is getting its own mini-outpost in Manhattan, according to Emily Sundberg\u2019s business newsletter\u00a0Feed Me<\/a>.<\/p>\n Later this year, Ronnie Fieg, the CEO of fashion label Kith, is set to open a private members-only padel club in the West Village with a small Erewhon inside, per Sundberg\u2019s report.\u00a0<\/p>\n Erewhon is rumored to be making its way to New York City. Dania Maxwell\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/p>\n Members will have to pay a $36,000 initiation fee as well as $7,000 in annual dues to be part of the club, named Kith IVY \u2014 meaning access to Erewhon comes with an astronomical price tag.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s perhaps fitting for the high-end\u00a0 grocery store famed for selling\u00a0$19 single strawberries<\/a>,\u00a0$32 ice cubes<\/a>, and a $20 \u201cHailey Bieber Skin Glaze Smoothie.\u201d<\/p>\n But the report isn\u2019t going down smoothly for some locals who say that the store \u2014 with its quintessentially Californian focus on wellness\u00a0 \u2014 isn\u2019t welcome among the Big Apple\u2019s bodegas and bagel joints.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c$20 for a smoothie? For that price, I better get a free Yankees ticket and a subway transfer, too,\u201d born-and-raised Manhattanite Marco Lombardi, 33, told The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cNew Yorkers don\u2019t need Erewhon to teach us wellness,\u201d he added.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing bagels and coffee for decades \u2014 that\u2019s our wellness.\u201d<\/p>\n Erewhon is famous for its expensive smoothies. Dania Maxwell\/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images<\/p>\n Brooklynite Noelani Buonomo, 25, also winced at the report, telling The Post that the chain\u00a0 \u2014 beloved by LA\u2019s influencers \u2014 will only add to the homogenization of the West Village.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s nothing distinctly \u2018New York\u2019 about it, \u201cBuonomo blasted. \u201cI just think it has nothing unique to offer, but will further push the city further into influencer culture. I don\u2019t like how everything is a prop. It feels like product placement in real life and it\u2019s really icky to me.\u201d<\/p>\n However, Lombardi, who runs a popular Instagram account highlighting independently owned eateries across New York<\/a>, concedes that some luxury-loving locals will adore the arrival of Erewhon.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn this new New York City, I think it flies, but for the days ones, not a chance,\u201d Lombardi, who was born on the Lower East Side, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kith CEO Ronnie Fieg will be opening Kith IVY, a private members-only padel club, with its own Erewhon. Allie Joseph\/Footwear News via Getty Images<\/p>\n The Post has reached out to Erewhon for comment. <\/p>\n Back in 2021, Erewhon CEO Tony Anitoci teased the possibility of a location opening in New York in an interview with the Los Angeles Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are looking at New York City; it\u2019s definitely on the plate,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, West Village residents have expressed their disproval of Feig\u2019s proposed private padel club which will house the mini-Erewhon. <\/p>\n Protestors at a meeting about the club\u2019s liquor license held signs that read \u201cNo Rooftop Restaurant\u201d and \u201cNo Private Padel,\u201d Curbed reported<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n The complaints were mainly based on the plan for a rooftop bar and club, which residents said would bring \u201cnoise, drunken rowdiness and crime\u201d to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n West Village residents reportedly wrote letters that said \u201ca rooftop venue with padel courts, alcohol, and loud music\/live DJ all day until 12 a.m. every night of the week is not at all in line with the character of this area.\u201d<\/p>\n The rooftop bar was ultimately scrapped, though people still continue to argue additions to the venue location \u2014 especially the planned \u201cstadium lightning\u201d and \u201cbullet-style noise.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t