It's Wednesday, you deserve a treat, like an episode of the Hell Gate Podcast! Listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you know anyone with a membership to the $7,000-a-year private club branded by the hopelessly past-its-prime sportswear brand Kith, let them know to get in contact with us immediately at tips@hellgatenyc.com.
The cult-favorite Los Angeles supermarket Erewhon, which has become famous for their post-ironic, spiritually-aspirational branding and pricey smoothies made from artisanal produce, will be coming to New York—but in a genius stroke of stunt marketing, will be locked inside of "Kith Ivy," a private "Padel brand and club" in Greenwich Village near the Hudson River, which requires a $36,000 initiation fee, in addition to its dues. (Padel is a racket sport similar to pickleball.)
Credit for the scoop goes, fittingly, to an exclusive in the "daily business newsletter" Feed Me—a sort of digest of news tidbits for doomed Zillennials of a certain urban striver class—run by writer Emily Sundberg, who reviewed, fittingly, a pitch deck for the Kith Ivy Erewhon.
Erewhon was founded with Californian Buddhist principles, but it will arrive in New York via brand activation. In conjunction with Sundberg's post, Kith posted this announcement of its padel club on Instagram:
To celebrate its upcoming launch, we have built a Padel court inside Vanderbilt Hall at Grand Central Terminal for guests to have a chance to play at no-cost.
The Kith Ivy Padel Court at Grand Central is now open until September 10th. While slots have been booked since our announcement, visit the court in-person to get on the waitlist.
This is a true lesson in this being a "city of overlapping subjectivities," as I'm always saying. I can snark all I want, but "slots have been booked since our announcement"!! People want this, and will pay for it. And again, if you're one of those people, you need to get in contact with us immediately.
OK, I'll say it: I want to go to the Kith Ivy Erewhon. Are you happy now? I am a culture reporter, and this—event marketing—is culture now (if you don't believe me, check my inbox). Sure, you could argue that for the money you'd spend on initiation alone, you could plan yourself an extremely lavish Los Angeles vacation and have all the Erewhon smoothies you want, but then you wouldn't get to play Padel.
I have to admit that, though I occasionally vacation in Los Angeles myself, I've never actually been to Erewhon. As far as nice supermarkets go, I've always been satisfied by Wegman's. But Kith Ivy Padel Court is only the latest unapologetically-exclusive members club to pop up in the city, where they now dominate nightlife for a set of young people starved for real-life connections, who are willing to pony up for them. It is, however, the first time a nice supermarket has been cordoned off not only by its branding and price tags, but a multi-thousand-dollar members fee to a racket sport club…so far.
These links don't cost a members' fee…so far: