On June 5, Replacing Vintage Market
Erewhon Market announced on its Facebook page that its natural foods store will open in Pacific Palisades on June 5. The space fronting Sunset Boulevard has been vacant since mid-March, when Vintage Grocers departed.
Vintage opened in Caruso’s Palisades Village last September, but rumors started circulating in February that the volume of business was not enough to compensate for the rent. When Circling the News reached out to Vintage, we received a reply on March 18.
Company spokesperson Melissa Darpino replied, “I am still learning myself, but this is what I was told – some team members were transferred to the Malibu store, and others will be transferred to Erewhon. Others–-and I do not know the number-–were given a severance. Personally, I only knew of the closings hours before they happened.”
Erewhon is an independent grocer and it states in its mission statement that the owners believe “in knowing the organic farmer who supplies the crop, the supplier who makes the product and the shopper who walks through our doors.”
The website also notes that its suppliers “think like us, cherish the earth like us, and are crazy about uncontaminated food like us.”
Co-owner Tony Antoci, who lives in Brentwood, bought the only remaining Erewhon store in the country in Los Angeles in 2011. (For a complete history of Erewhon, which opened in 1966 in Boston, visit: soyinfocenter.com/books/142).
In an April 2018 Forbes magazine story (“Erewhon’s New Store Calls to Mind Whole Foods’ Beginnings”), the author notes, “Antoci hopes to increase his store count to 10 and expand his footprint a little more in the Los Angeles area over the next five to seven years. He says that he wants to see where it goes and that, down the road, 20 or 30 stores is certainly within his scope.”
Antoci and his wife, Josephine, now have stores in Santa Monica (on Wilshire just east of 26th Street), Venice, Calabasas and Los Angeles (Beverly Boulevard.)
The store includes gluten-free, raw, vegan, Kosher and superfoods. Catering is available and the organic café will have take-out items. There is a tonic and juice bar.
In the Forbes story, the author writes: “On the company’s website [erewhonmarket.com], it lists 14 ingredients, additives, preservatives or flavorings that, if used as an ingredient, will make the chain refuse to sell a product. Among those ingredients are soybean and canola oils (unless they are organic or non-GMO) and refined sugar and flour.”
A Palisades resident who saw the notice on Facebook, wrote, “I wonder if they’ll be giving away samples and coupons?”
Iwish I could be positive about this BUT still wish for a Trader Joe’s-that would be a SURE thing! But then I also wish for a hardware store too to replace Norris! I Can Dream-Can’t I?