[Update: March 18]: In a statement to The Malibu Times, a representative for Vintage Grocers said: “It’s Erewhon’s intention to consider all Vintage Grocers Palisades and Westlake employees for employment with Erewhon. Vintage Grocers has also transferred many Palisades and Westlake team members to Malibu.”
As of Friday, March 15, Trancas Country Market in Malibu is the only center left in Southern California that houses Vintage Grocers. Effective Friday, the company has closed its locations at The Promenade in Westlake Village and the Palisades Village in Pacific Palisades.
The former was open for a little more than two years while the latter was open for less than half a year.
Rumors that Erewhon Market—another upscale grocery chain with locations around Southern California—would be taking over the Palisades location were confirmed that day as well. The Erewhon Market website already lists 15285 W. Sunset Blvd, Pacific Palisades (the former Palisades Vintage Grocers location) as an upcoming location.
Employees of the Westlake and Palisades locations were informed of the closure on Thursday night, March 14, as confirmed by documents obtained by the Times. A Vintage Grocers spokesperson declined to confirm this information in an email interview.
In a statement shared with The Malibu Times, a representative for Vintage Grocers said, “Malibu-based homegrown market, Vintage Grocers, has joined forces with like-minded, natural goods store, Erewhon Market. The two independent grocers are partnering to rebrand Vintage Grocers’ Palisades Village location, which will reopen this summer as Erewhon’s fifth location.”
“Vintage will also be closing its Westlake Village store, given its proximity to Erewhon’s market in The Summit at Calabasas,” the statement described.
By Friday afternoon, listings for the Westlake Village and Pacific Palisades locations has been removed from the Vintage Grocer website.
The Malibu location recently celebrated its five-year anniversary. When it opened, the location became—and remains—Malibu’s only grocery store operating west of Point Dume.
In August 2017, it made headlines after a change in leadership marked the departure of longtime employees including former manager Eric Fuscher and his wife, Linda; Jack Nassie; and Mary Carbionniere.
In-store management working on Friday at the Trancas Country Market Vintage Grocers declined to comment for this article.
Editor’s note: Look out for the full story in the upcoming edition of The Malibu Times.