How Erewhon turned groceries into a luxury status symbol

Walk into Erewhon in Silver Lake and the tables outside are full of beautiful young Angelenos in athleisureathleisure: Clothing that is appropriate for both athletic and leisure pursuits — 运动休闲服. Inside, long queuesqueue: An animal's tail — 动物尾巴（古义） snake towardtoward: In the direction of — 朝着；向 the smoothiesmoothie: A smooth-talking person — 能言善道的人 and salad counters. The aisles are styled to be photographed — carrots lined up like soldiers, bananas hanging in perfect clusterscluster: A group of similar things or people positioned or occurring closely together. — 一簇；一群；集群, nuts glinting inside chicchic: Elegant, stylish — 时尚的；别致的 masonmason: One who prepares stone for building purposes — 石匠（备料工） jarsjar: An earthenware container, either with two or no handles, for holding oil, water, wine, etc., or used for burial — 罐子；广口瓶mason jars: glass jars with a screw-on metal lid, originally used for preserving food, now fashionable for storage — 梅森罐；玻璃密封罐. The beauty section glitters with expensive supplements and veganvegan: A person committed to avoiding products and practices that inherently involve animal use, including all foods containing animal products, and to abstaining from direct and intentional harm to animals as far as possible; an adherent to veganism — 纯素主义者 protein powdersprotein powders: powdered supplements of protein used for muscle-building or meal replacement — 蛋白粉. A 27-year-old customer called Paul explains the appeal bluntlybluntly: In a blunt manner; without delicacy, or the usual forms of civility — 直率地；不客气地: being seen at Erewhon, he says, signals that he has taste.

Erewhon is small. It has just ten stores, all clusteredcluster: A group of similar things or people positioned or occurring closely together. — 一簇；一群；集群 around Los Angeles — a micro-chainmicro-chain: a chain of shops with only a small number of locations — 小型连锁店 by American grocery standards. Yet it has become the grocer of choice for celebrities from Hailey Bieber to the Kardashians, and its products flood social media. Chicken-noodlenoodle: (usually in the plural) a string or strip of pasta — 面条 soup sells for $16.50, a strawberrystrawberry: The sweet, usually red, edible fruit of certain plants of the genus Fragaria — 草莓（果实） smoothie for $21, a jar of sea-mossmoss: Any of various small, green, seedless plants growing on the ground or on the surfaces of trees, stones, etc.; now specifically, a plant of the phylum Bryophyta (formerly division Musci) — 苔藓 gelgel: Any gel intended for a particular cosmetic use, such as for styling the hair — 凝胶（美容用） for $44. These prices reflect a broader shift in luxury spending, away from big-ticket itemsbig-ticket items: expensive products with a high price tag, especially luxury goods — 高价商品 such as designer handbagshandbag: (mainly Commonwealth) A small bag used by women (or sometimes by men) for carrying various small personal items — 手提包 and towards smaller, more frequent indulgencesindulgence: Tolerance — 宽容；纵容. But much of Erewhon's success is down tois down to: is the result of; is caused by — 归功于；归因于 a careful strategy.

The store's origins sit oddly next to its current personapersona: A character played by an actor — 角色（演员扮演的）. Erewhon was founded in 1960s Boston by a Japanese couple who followed the macrobioticmacrobiotic: Of a lifestyle incorporating a dietary regimen including locally grown, seasonal, natural foods, or of the diet itself — 长寿饮食的 movement, which urged its adherentsadherent: A person who has membership in some group, association or religion — 追随者；信徒 to eat the simplest foods. Its name is "nowhere" spelled almost backwards, borrowed from a Victorian satiricalsatirical: Of, pertaining to or connected with satire — 讽刺的 novel. A stafferstaffer: A member of a staff — 员工；职员 from that era remembers Erewhon as a kind of food museum stocked with whole grainswhole grains: cereal grains that keep the bran and germ of the seed, not milled or polished — 全谷物 and misomiso: A thick paste made by fermentation of soybeans with the mold Aspergillus oryzae, used in making soups and sauces — 味噌, its labels explaining who grew each product and who blessedbless: To ask for divine favour or protection for someone, or to endow with a beneficial quality. — 祝福；赐福；保佑 it on the full moon. The Boston shop later closedclose: to (physical) To remove a gap — 关闭；合拢, and the business survived as a single Los Angeles outpostoutpost: An outlying settlement — 边远定居点；分支. A vibevibe: A vibraphone — 颤音琴（乐器） shiftvibe shift: a cultural or stylistic change in the mood, feel or direction of something — 风格转变 came in 2011, when a Californian couple, Tony and Josephine Antoci, bought Erewhon. They raised prices sharply and set about remakingremake: To make again — 重做；再造 it as a luxury grocer.

Luxury takes more than photogenicphotogenic: Generated or caused by light — 光生成的 produce and clever social media. The first pillarpillar: A large post, often used as supporting architecture — 柱子；立柱 of the Antocis' strategy is exclusivityexclusivity: The quality of being exclusive — 排他性；独享性. The $200-a-year membership programmemembership programme: a scheme where customers pay a fee to join and receive exclusive benefits — 会员计划, which offers small discounts and free smoothies, works less like a loyaltyloyalty: a strong feeling of support or allegiance to a person, institution, or cause — 忠诚；忠心 card and more like a status symbolstatus symbol: an object or membership that shows the owner's wealth or social position — 身份的象征 — akinakin: (of persons) Of the same kin; related by blood — 同族的；有血缘关系的 to joining a private members' club. Popular products appear only for limited periods. And although the chain plans six more stores, all will stay in Los Angeles; shoppersshopper: A person who shops — 购物者 elsewhere either pay for delivery or travel in person. One visitor from New York said the store was the main reason for her trip.

The second pillar is wellness. Younger customers follow diets that often bafflebaffle: To publicly disgrace, especially of a recreant knight — 公开羞辱（古义） their parents — keto, paleo, flexitarianflexitarian: (of a person) Being a flexitarian — 弹性素食的（人）. As inflation has pushed up grocery bills, splurgingsplurge: To (cause to) gush; to flow or move in a rush — 大量涌出；喷出 on healthy food has itself become a way to signal wealth. Erewhon's shelves, heavy with strange-sounding ingredients, meet the momentmeet the moment: to be perfectly suited to the current cultural trend or need — 迎合当下. Crucially, the store has shaken offshaken off: got rid of (something restrictive or unwelcome) — 摆脱 the puritanismpuritanism: Extreme strictness regarding moral scruples — 清教徒式严苛 that sinks most health-food shops — a wellness crazecraze: Craziness; insanity — 癫狂；精神错乱wellness craze: the popular contemporary enthusiasm for health, fitness and self-care lifestyles — 健康生活热潮 without the guiltguilt: a feeling of responsibility or remorse for having done something wrong, or the fact of having committed an offence — 内疚；罪责. Take its popular buffalobuffalo: Any of the Old World mammals of the family Bovidae, such as the Cape buffalo, Syncerus caffer, or the water buffalo Bubalus bubalis — 水牛 cauliflowercauliflower: The edible head or curd of a cauliflower plant — 花椰菜（食材） bitesbite: The act of biting — 咬；咬一口, which are made from organic ingredients but are coated in rice flour and fried. The macrobiotic dogmadogma: An authoritative principle, belief or statement of opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true and indisputable, regardless of evidence or without evidence to support it — 教条；信条 of the 1960s is gone; the look of virtuevirtue: moral excellence; a good or admirable quality; an advantage — 美德；优点；长处 is not.

The third pillar is convenience. Data from NielsenIQ, a research firm, show that Gen ZGen Z: Generation Z; people born roughly between 1997 and 2012 — Z 世代 and Millennial shoppers are more likely than older generations to eat on the goon the go: while busy or moving between places, rather than sitting down — 在路上；忙碌中 and less likely to plan family dinners. Erewhon is built for the quick trips they prefer. A typical store is about 12,000 square feet — roughly a third the size of a Whole Foods, another grocer for affluent urbanitesurbanite: One of a demographic class of young, socially-conscious, urban professionals — 都市白领. Erewhon does not publish the share of revenue that comes from its drinks counter and salad bar, but a company executive says it is far higher than at conventional grocers. By his description, Erewhon is part grocer, part café.

Erewhon's slow expansion may not be a choice. There are only a handfulhandful: a small number or quantity of something — 少数；少量 of American cities with enough young, affluent people willing to queuequeue: An animal's tail — 动物尾巴（古义） for produce priced at Erewhon levels; the company's executive puts the number at four or five. High-end fashion labels, now suffering from sluggishsluggish: Habitually idle and lazy; slothful; dull; inactive — 懒散的；迟钝的 salessluggish sales: weak or slow commercial sales — 销售疲软 after a period of rapid post-pandemicpost-pandemic: occurring after the COVID-19 pandemic period — 疫情后的 growth, might take notetake note: to pay attention and learn from something — 关注；留意: luxury is, by definition, not for the many.