Bougie grocers, insta marts, luxury supermarkets – call them what you will, but they are growing in number, primarily in the US.

The latest, Laurel Supply in LA, appears from what I’ve seen (courtesy of the wonderful Kevin Ervin Kelley, the space’s architect) to be perhaps the boldest vision of this trend yet.

Analysts have suggested it’s an example of the store as marketing – a trend I’ve been describing for years that’s already well-established in other retail sectors (Gentle Monster and Glossier, for example).

On the one hand, this makes complete sense. Retailers paying attention to how the world is changing will note the power of a physical store to create digital content. Digital hype relies on physical stimulus, and a beautiful grocery with beautiful food is ripe for shareable moments, clearly.

But on the other hand, selling groceries is a very different business to selling fashion and beauty, namely because of the margins. For a mass market grocer, the margins are typically between 2% and 4%. In these environments, you need to create sales as well as content. 

So are the likes of Erewhon manifestations of a purely peripheral trend? Or do these examples tell us something bigger and more compelling about how consumers are changing?

Image credit – Jack Stratten/Insider Trends

How big is it?

Erewhon is maybe a useful North Star here, as it has become the archetype.

It sells very expensive groceries, the selection is curated, the aesthetic is closer to a hipster design store, and the following is so devout that they parade around town in Erewhon baseball caps.

Those caps, in some respect, tell you everything you need to know: this is status shopping, and consumers want the world to know they shop there.

In the US, inevitably mainly in New York and LA, similar brands have popped up. Meadow Lane in Tribeca, New York is a small grocery shop selling hilariously expensive bits and bobs, and probably best known  for ready-to-eat snacks and lunches. Nearby, Happier Grocery in SoHo is chasing a similar kind of content-hungry shopper.

You could probably add Pop-Up Grocer in New York to this list, which despite being focused on showcasing new food brands, feeds on a similar aesthetic and consumers.

Interestingly, although the same phenomenon is visible in the UK and Europe, it’s mostly playing out through existing independent and small-chain grocers and delis. 

Partridge’s in Chelsea, London, is enjoying regular viral moments but has been around for more than 50 years. High-end deli chain Lina Stores is similarly bougie and frequently viral – but has been trading since the Second World War, and now has 11 locations.

And over in Paris, it’s a similar story. Plenty of young Americans sharing videos of pricey madeleines they’ve bought, but from historic petite epiceries that are, quite literally, everywhere. 

There’s probably an argument to be made that while this is a global consumer trend, it’s playing out in a relatively distinct manner in the US.

Many different theories for this are possible. But perhaps the simplest and most obvious is that the need for new food concepts that match this consumer trend is greater in the US than elsewhere. 

But regardless of where and how it’s showing up, the appeal of luxury grocery shopping is firmly a global trend. What’s actually driving it?

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