February 19, 2026
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Why Have Gourmet Grocers Become Social Clubs?
In some cities, a new wave of gourmet grocers are drawing long lines, viral TikTok attention — and shoppers willing to pay premium prices for prepared foods, wellness products, and an elevated retail experience.
The pioneer of the trend is Erewhon, the Southern California organic grocery chain that’s been called out for it $20 smoothies, $26 bottles of “hyper-oxygenated” water, and Instagram-ready displays. On the other hand, it’s also become a hot spot for celebrities and influencers, as it’s elevated healthy food to a status symbol.
“Erewhon smoothies feel like the equivalent of buying Chanel sunglasses when you can’t afford main line,” a Berlin shopper tells Vogue Business.
“Erewhon is somewhere I want to be seen,” a 27-year-old customer confessed to The Economist. “It says: I have taste.”
One Erewhon investor told the Financial Times of the concept, “It’s like a cross between Whole Foods and Studio 54 [the former New York celebrity disco].”
Erewhon’s slogan is, “We’re more than a grocery store. We’re a community.”
@erewhonmarket That’s a wrap for our first Wellness Event of 2024! Thanks to everyone who joined us last weekend – we can’t wait to come together again soon.
Several Factors Moving Gourmet Grocers Into the Spotlight
Roula Khalaf, the editor of the Financial Times, cited Bayley & Sage and Daylesford Organic as two U.K. grocers also benefiting, and traced three factors driving the trend. The first is the increasing popularity of vegan and macrobiotic foods. She writes: “The more traceable and healthier the products, the less likely shoppers are to question how much they are asked to pay.”
Other reasons include such grocers investing in prime real estate that’s at the “heart of a community,” and achieving “fame out of proportion to their size” that helps inflame social media hype. Khalaf added: “Young Londoners on TikTok know about Erewhon and have opinions on its celebrity smoothies, even if they have never been near LA. Expensive foods and exotic liquid concoctions are fodder for memes and jokes. The more costly and absurd a grocery sounds, the more of a cult it can become.”
Recently, a number of articles have explored the opening of several pricey grocers in downtown Manhattan — Meadow Lane, Happier Grocery and Rigor Hill Market — to crowds and social media buzz, despite an affordability crisis that led to a surprise win for its new mayor, Zohran Mamdani.
“Gen Zers and millennials are swimming in student debt and may never own homes, but they’re splurging on gut-healthy juices and rotisserie chickens,” the Wall Street Journal recently wrote of the luxury grocery trend hitting New York City.
New York is full of high-end grocery stores, including Zabar’s and Eataly, but the new crop of gourmet grocers stands out for their focus on building followings via social media and in-store experiences, akin to creating a lifestyle brand.
Meadow Lane opened last November in Tribeca after owner Sammy Nussdorf spent 17 months documenting every step in its creation on TikTok. He told WSJ of the store, “I wanted people to feel like they just took a Xanax when they walk in.”
He adds that he doesn’t feel Meadow Lane’s prices, including $15 chicken nuggets and $65 olive oil, are out of line with upscale grocery.
Happier Grocery, located in SoHo, also has a podcast. It has created an event space hosting tastings, yoga, knitting workshops, and other experiences as part of efforts to build a community around the store.
“You have to buy food,” Dawson Stellberger, co-owner of Happier Grocery, told the New York Times. “How do you reimagine what that experience looks like and then allow other kinds of activities or programs to come alongside that as well, to make it even more of a rich experience?”
BrainTrust
Tom Ryan
Managing Editor, RetailWire
Recent Discussions
Discussion Questions
What factors are driving the appeal of gourmet grocers such as Erewhon, Meadow Lane and Happier Grocery?
What can traditional grocers learn from the buzz earned by many of the newer upscale grocers?
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I think this is a bit of a sweeping statement. Some gourmet grocers are also social spaces. Many are not. In the case of Happier Grocery, it was deliberately established as a community hub first, with a grocery offer bolted on. But, more widely, people are still craving third spaces – especially in the work from home era – and a sense of community. So, where this is offered authentically, by grocery retailers or otherwise, it can work. And, of course, the advantage for grocery is that selling food and having spaces to sit and eat food are very natural bedfellows.
It is not just gourmet grocery that is drawing in members of the surrounding communities. When it opened several years ago the local Harris Teeter added a beer and wine bar in the deli/bakery area. Now on any given night the tables are packed and there are live bands performing.
Everyone (except Grouch Marx) enjoys being a member of a ‘cool’ club. These consumers ‘share’ the same ‘likes’ and belonging gives them joy. These grocers have developed a better mouse trap. Exclusivity counts. Need more reasons?
The rise of gourmet grocers like Erewhon, Meadow Lane, and Happier Grocery is less about groceries and more about the evolution of retail into a curated, experience-driven, and socially amplified environment. These concepts are thriving because they blend premium product, wellness positioning, and a highly intentional in-store experience that feels more like a lifestyle destination than a weekly shopping trip. In many ways, they’ve turned grocery shopping into a form of entertainment and identity—fueled heavily by social media, influencer marketing, and visually compelling store design. Shoppers are drawn not only to unique, high-quality assortments, but to the idea of being part of a “scene” or community, where the experience itself becomes shareable content.
Traditional grocers can learn a great deal from this, even if they cannot—or should not—replicate the price points or exclusivity. The real takeaway is the importance of differentiation through product curation, elevated service, and a more engaging shopping environment. Whether it’s better storytelling about fresh and prepared foods, more localized assortments, or creating in-store moments of discovery, the goal should be to make the trip feel purposeful and enjoyable rather than purely transactional. At the same time, these upscale formats reinforce a broader truth in retail: consumers will still pay a premium when they perceive unique value, whether that’s rooted in health, quality, or experience.
This whole post reads like a “Page 6” for grocery (where are the numbers? where are the facts?) There’ve always been celebrity favorite stores – be they groceries, or spas or hotels or…- and this just appears to be the latest crop (Let’s see how may are still around in 10 or 15 years). Sorry to be curmudgeonly here but I dont think someone selling $26 bottles of water can teach most retailers much of anything…other than that there are always people willing to throw money away
Gourmet grocers add glitz and aesthetic joy to what may otherwise be a mundane weekly routine. They also signal elite status. Customers may share photos of these sumptuous supermarkets online to exude prestige in contrast to many households that now clip coupons and cut back. Community initiatives offer a sense of belonging as gourmet grocers invite shoppers to meet, eat and mingle.
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I think this is a bit of a sweeping statement. Some gourmet grocers are also social spaces. Many are not. In the case of Happier Grocery, it was deliberately established as a community hub first, with a grocery offer bolted on. But, more widely, people are still craving third spaces – especially in the work from home era – and a sense of community. So, where this is offered authentically, by grocery retailers or otherwise, it can work. And, of course, the advantage for grocery is that selling food and having spaces to sit and eat food are very natural bedfellows.
It is not just gourmet grocery that is drawing in members of the surrounding communities. When it opened several years ago the local Harris Teeter added a beer and wine bar in the deli/bakery area. Now on any given night the tables are packed and there are live bands performing.
Everyone (except Grouch Marx) enjoys being a member of a ‘cool’ club. These consumers ‘share’ the same ‘likes’ and belonging gives them joy. These grocers have developed a better mouse trap. Exclusivity counts. Need more reasons?
The rise of gourmet grocers like Erewhon, Meadow Lane, and Happier Grocery is less about groceries and more about the evolution of retail into a curated, experience-driven, and socially amplified environment. These concepts are thriving because they blend premium product, wellness positioning, and a highly intentional in-store experience that feels more like a lifestyle destination than a weekly shopping trip. In many ways, they’ve turned grocery shopping into a form of entertainment and identity—fueled heavily by social media, influencer marketing, and visually compelling store design. Shoppers are drawn not only to unique, high-quality assortments, but to the idea of being part of a “scene” or community, where the experience itself becomes shareable content.
Traditional grocers can learn a great deal from this, even if they cannot—or should not—replicate the price points or exclusivity. The real takeaway is the importance of differentiation through product curation, elevated service, and a more engaging shopping environment. Whether it’s better storytelling about fresh and prepared foods, more localized assortments, or creating in-store moments of discovery, the goal should be to make the trip feel purposeful and enjoyable rather than purely transactional. At the same time, these upscale formats reinforce a broader truth in retail: consumers will still pay a premium when they perceive unique value, whether that’s rooted in health, quality, or experience.
This whole post reads like a “Page 6” for grocery (where are the numbers? where are the facts?) There’ve always been celebrity favorite stores – be they groceries, or spas or hotels or…- and this just appears to be the latest crop (Let’s see how may are still around in 10 or 15 years). Sorry to be curmudgeonly here but I dont think someone selling $26 bottles of water can teach most retailers much of anything…other than that there are always people willing to throw money away
Gourmet grocers add glitz and aesthetic joy to what may otherwise be a mundane weekly routine. They also signal elite status. Customers may share photos of these sumptuous supermarkets online to exude prestige in contrast to many households that now clip coupons and cut back. Community initiatives offer a sense of belonging as gourmet grocers invite shoppers to meet, eat and mingle.