WHY The salad bar, the sushi bar, the deli soups and the competitive prices on organic produce and healthy packaged food products.

WHAT Before Whole Foods stores were popping up like so many organic chanterelles in a rain forest, Erewhon (‘Nowhere’ spelled backwards, sort of) was selling organic, natural foods. It stocks hormone-free chicken and organic eggs but sells no red meat; bulk grains, beans and dried fruits but no products made with white sugar; and imported olive oils and cheeses but nothing made with hydrogenated vegetable fats. A spotless, well-organized, new-age market with good prices.

WHO Tie-dyed relics from the ’70s meet glam vegan twentysomething development girls.

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