Erewhon is coming to New York.
A new “tonic bar” operated by the upscale West Coast grocer will be located at 120 Leroy Street in the West Village. It’s part of a partnership with KITH Ivy, a private members’ padel club launched by the streetwear brand KITH.
But there’s a catch.
The counter is not a full grocery store and, more importantly, will only be physically accessible to KITH Ivy members, Erewhon told The Real Deal.
The club plans to charge a $36,000 initiation fee and $7,000 per year in annual dues, according to reporter Emily Sundberg, who runs the Substack Feed Me.
However, for those of more modest means, dreams of strolling the village with a Hailey Bieber Strawberry Glaze Skin smoothie need not be totally dashed. Non-club members can purchase smoothies and juices in “limited quantities” through Postmates and Uber Eats, the grocer said.
Erewhon, which got its start as a macrobiotic store in Boston, has been teasing a New York location for years.
Its host setting has already been beset with controversy.
In March, at least 30 West Village residents rallied against the property’s bid for a liquor license, saying it will drive up noise and traffic. Initial applications included a rooftop bar with an occasional DJ, which then shifted to a rooftop restaurant extension with no music and no liquor license, as of March.
The Erewhon counter will be opposite the sauna, steam room and cold plunge, according to plans published to Instagram by KITH founder and CEO Ronnie Fieg. Fieg joins the Cayre family of Midtown Equities, as well as the longtime restaurateurs behind the East Village’s Cafe Mogador in the project.
Materials posted by Fieg advertise that the club “is a place where hard work and play coexist harmoniously and where members are invited to embrace the full spectrum of the human experience.”
