Erewhon has officially expanded beyond Los Angeles County, and shoppers in Thousand Oaks no longer have to head into Los Angeles to experience the grocery brand that has become one of Southern California’s biggest food and lifestyle names.
The company opened its newest store at The Lakes at Thousand Oaks on August 26, marking Erewhon’s first full grocery location outside Los Angeles County and its first in Ventura County. The opening also gives the brand a new foothold in a community north of its long-established Los Angeles base.
And this isn’t simply a new supermarket with an Erewhon sign out front. The Thousand Oaks location brings the features that have made the brand so recognizable, including prepared foods, a café, a Tonic Bar, and the kind of specialty drinks that regularly become social-media favorites.
But Erewhon has also given this store a local identity of its own, including an exclusive smoothie created specifically for Thousand Oaks.
Erewhon Has Finally Left Los Angeles County
The new store is located at The Lakes at Thousand Oaks, at 2150 E. Thousand Oaks Boulevard. The Lakes announced the grand opening for August 26, with the celebration running from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
For Erewhon, the location represents a meaningful change in its expansion strategy. The Los Angeles Times reported that the Thousand Oaks store is the company’s first location outside Los Angeles County, making it the farthest north Erewhon has gone with a grocery store.
The timing is especially interesting because Erewhon has been steadily adding stores around Southern California rather than immediately pursuing a nationwide grocery rollout. Recent additions include locations in Manhattan Beach, West Hollywood and Glendale, with additional Southern California stores planned for the future.
Erewhon CEO Tony Antoci had already signaled that a bigger expansion was coming. In 2025, Antoci described the company’s next phase as “Erewhon 2.0” and called it a “wave of expansion.”
Thousand Oaks now marks that expansion with a highly visible milestone. The company has taken the concept that became famous in Los Angeles and placed it in a new county without abandoning the format customers already recognize.
That means shoppers can expect more than rows of groceries. The store combines food shopping with prepared meals, drinks, and places to sit, making it feel more like a food-and-shopping destination than a traditional supermarket.
There’s a Thousand Oaks-Only Smoothie on the Menu
If you were waiting for a reason to make the trip, Erewhon has one that is hard to miss.
The Thousand Oaks store introduced an exclusive smoothie called “Amidst The Oaks.” The Lakes says the drink was created specifically for the new location and includes ginger, herbs, pineapple, and raw honey.
The smoothie also has a local connection. Erewhon said a portion of sales from the new drink would support the Manna Conejo Valley Food Bank, giving the store’s signature opening item a community-focused purpose.
And the exclusives don’t stop with the smoothie. Reporting from the opening notes that the Thousand Oaks store also offers location-specific merchandise and food, including a Thousand Oaks candle and a steak sandwich.
Inside, customers can shop for groceries while also visiting the café and Tonic Bar. The location includes indoor and outdoor dining areas, so someone can stop by for a drink or prepared meal rather than treating the store as a quick grocery run.
That combination is a big part of what makes Erewhon different from a conventional grocery chain. The company has built its stores around both shopping and the experience of being there, and Thousand Oaks follows that same approach.
The setting also matters. Erewhon said the new location was designed with the surrounding landscape in mind, while The Lakes describes the store as part of its food and grocery lineup.
So while the brand may be familiar to Los Angeles shoppers, the Thousand Oaks location isn’t simply trying to recreate an L.A. neighborhood store somewhere else. It has its own menu touches and local connection.
This Could Be the Beginning of an Even Bigger Erewhon
The Thousand Oaks opening comes at an interesting moment for Erewhon. The brand has grown from a natural-foods retailer into a recognizable Southern California lifestyle name, with its smoothies, prepared foods and celebrity following helping turn individual stores into destinations of their own.
The company’s roots go back to 1966, when Japanese immigrants Michio and Aveline Kushi founded the business in Boston. Erewhon later expanded to Los Angeles, opening its first L.A. location on Beverly Boulevard in 1969. Tony and Josephine Antoci acquired the company in 2011 and helped develop the modern Erewhon format.
Now, the company is moving beyond the county where that modern identity took shape.
The Los Angeles Times reports that Erewhon has additional Southern California expansion planned, including locations in downtown Los Angeles and Costa Mesa in 2027. The Pacific Palisades store, which closed after the 2025 wildfire, is also expected to reopen.
For now, though, Thousand Oaks stands out. It is the first time Erewhon’s full grocery-store concept has crossed the Los Angeles County line, and the company is giving the new market plenty of reasons to pay attention.
The store’s arrival also says something about how Erewhon sees its future. Rather than suddenly scattering locations across the country, the company is continuing to build its presence in Southern California, one community at a time.
And for Ventura County shoppers, the change is simple: the Erewhon experience that once meant heading into Los Angeles is now right in Thousand Oaks.
Whether customers come for groceries, the café, the Tonic Bar, the exclusive smoothie, or to see what all the buzz is about, Erewhon has officially added a new destination to its Southern California map.
