Well, I’ve been watching the new development at Trancas, and thinking: “How great! We will finally have a new grocery store here at the north end of Malibu to replace our beloved How’s Market.” And then I read that—in their infinite wisdom—the Walmart-heir owners are bringing us Erewhon Market. Erewhon Market? Are you kidding me? Great, just when you thought that something good might come of all this development we read that the owners are bringing us just about the most expensive grocery store there is. It is an obvious fact that our local families can’t afford to shop there. So who will? Let’s see: all of the tourists that used to get so many of their supplies at How’s? Nope, they won’t even be able to buy regular soda there (too full of refined sugar, how revolutionary of them), nor inexpensive beach towels, nor beach chairs. No hot dogs or common hamburger meat. Forget about it: this new grocery store does not have those items. Who, then, are the patrons of this store supposed to be? Did it ever occur to our investor/multi-millionaires that we are not all movie stars and millionaires? Do they really want us to keep shopping at Von’s? Do they realize that they are not giving us a choice? Of course not! They are locals like the Lumberyard-not-a-lumberyard owners were locals when they bid on the leasehold over there. Oh, yeah, that’s right. The “local” owners at the Lumberyard-not-a-lumberyard are selling off their interest to outsiders. Good move. So who will shop at Erewhon? Oh, yeah, that’s right: our new owners will! They have selected the very upscale Erewhon so that they can get their specialty foods and drinks and body products that the rest of us cannot afford to buy. No need for them to drive to town. They have bought themselves their very own “neighborhood” grocery store. And really, what kind of name is that for a grocery store: Erewhon? It would be cheaper for us to burn the gas in both directions to shop at Trader Joe’s. Not good for our environment to add all of those car trips into the mix, but cheaper nonetheless. Well, so much for our new “neighborhood” market. They are kidding, right?
Carol Bretonne