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Today, we're going to take a look at what it's like to shop at Air One, the most expensive grocery store in America
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Air One is a chain of luxury grocery stores. With 10 locations, all in California, Air One's ridiculous prices have made it the choice of celebrities and influencers
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creating a buzz around the brand across the internet. But at Air One, groceries aren't really the point
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People come to Air One just as much for the store's wide variety of powders, gels, and supplements
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Air One locations are also popular for their cafes and tonic bars
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But what really helped turbocharge the chain's popularity was the COVID-19 pandemic
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which arrived in 2020 and made grocery stores one of the few places outside of the home people could still visit
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The pandemic encouraged Air One to make more use of online influencers
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And to that end, they partnered on a celebrity smoothie with the well-known TikTok creator, Tinks
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The promotion was so successful that celebrity smoothie partnerships have since become a regular centerpiece of the Air One brand
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And the smoothies, which will lighten your wallet by somewhere between $11 and $20, remain Air One's most buzzworthy product
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The combination of the high prices and the high-profile endorsements have made Air One the kind of place where celebrities are regularly spotted
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Air One isn't for the budget conscious among us. For example, your average supermarket will charge you somewhere in the neighborhood of $3 for a 16-ounce dispenser of a recognizable brand of liquid hand soap
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Air One store brand hand soap on the other hand costs And it not just the soap A six of Coke can cost somewhere around or at a regular supermarket
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But a six-pack of Erwan soda, which comes in ginger, green apple jasmine, and watermelon lime
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among other flavors, will run you 35 big ones. A gallon of milk will set you back $20
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A 64-ounce bottle of water is $26. and 32 ounces of orange juice cost $15
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It's 25 smackaroos for 18 measly ounces of almonds. Also, 17 ounces of balsamic vinegar will run you 50 clams
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16 ounces of yogurt will cost you 24 simoleons and 32 ounces of maple syrup will drain you of 43 greenbacks
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Heck, the same rotisserie chicken that even Whole Foods only has the stones to charge $12 for costs $22 at Air One
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Why is the food at Air One so damn expensive? Well, according to the company, the food costs as much as it does due to the cost of the
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high-quality ingredients they use. And there's probably at least some amount of truth to that
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But critics have suggested that the food at Air One is so pricey because what they actually
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sell is the notion that expensive things are better. The other, much less charitable criticism
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is that the point of the store's high prices is to keep out the poors. Erwan's exclusionary pricing all but guarantees
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that only the mega-wealthy can afford to shop there. The rest of us will just have to fog up the windows
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staring in from the outside
