Fancy grocer Erewhon spends $12M on Glendale lot for new store

Glendale is getting an Erewhon, the luxury grocer famous for $20 smoothies and a hefty celebrity presence. 

Erewhon bought a 24,000-square-foot building at 520 North Glendale Avenue and an adjacent parking lot for $12.4 million earlier this year, records show. The sale came out to $514 a square foot. 

The grocer will open an 18,000-square-foot store at the site at the end of 2025, the City of Glendale announced on Tuesday. The remaining 6,000 square feet will be leased to other tenants. 

The property was formerly home to Virgil’s Hardware Home Center. Two limited liability companies managed by Florida-based Michael Curcio sold the property, according to property records and business records filed with the California Secretary of State. 

Curcio bought the property and the parking lot for $7.5 million, or about $312 a square foot, in December 2020, records show. His deal with Erewhon represented a 65 percent markup compared to his purchase price. 

The store will mark Erewhon’s 11th location across Los Angeles County, adding to sites in Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Culver City, Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, among other areas. 

For most of its other locations, Erewhon has chosen to lease, instead of buy, given they are located within larger retail complexes. 

A-listers such as Taylor Swift, Jake Gyllenhaal and Miley Cyrus, have been seen shopping at established Erewhon locations. In the last year the chain’s owners, Josephine and Tony Antoci, bought one Malibu mansion for $20 million and soon thereafter sold another one for $15.5 million.