Meghan Markle Suffers Fresh Blow as Hometown Montecito Bookstore Shrinks As Ever Display Amid Brand Woes
Meghan Markle's As Ever display at her local bookstore suffered a downgrade.
July 30 2026, Published 1:26 p.m. ET
Meghan Markle's hometown Montecito bookstore appeared to quietly demote her As Ever products, with the former royal's once-prominent display dramatically scaled back in a fresh blow to her lifestyle brand, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
Godmother's Bookstore championed Markle's As Ever fruit spreads, honeys, teas, candles and more across multiple large shelves, but now, just a handful of products are relegated to a tiny table.
As Ever's Display Downsized at Godmother's Bookstore.
As Ever's display at Godmother's Bookstore has been majorly downsized.
A user on the Saint Meghan Markle subreddit who goes by TMCze stopped by Godmother's on their way to a wine tasting north of Santa Barbara, after popping into the shop several months earlier.
"BIG movement! I went into the room upstairs, and there was no sight of the stuff on the 3 tiers of big wall shelf display (upstairs, mind you, not in the main floor gallery even)," they wrote as to where the items had previously been located on a prior visit.
"As I was leaving, I turned and saw a sorry, sad display of a pitiful offering of only 3 items lit by a stark lamp," they added, noting there was "no signage or banner" to alert customers to the As Ever products.
Meghan Markle Previously Had a Massive Setup
As Ever once had a massive spread across a large part of Godmother's Bookstore.
The Redditor noted that the display, about the size of a schoolroom desk, included eight boxes of her chocolates in collaboration with Compartes, eight $64 signature candles, one box of As Ever's honey set, and a large glass "fish bowl" containing jars of her edible dried-flower sprinkles.
There were no jars of Markle's signature fruit spreads, which had been a part of her 2025 holiday display at the bookstore, nor were there other perishables beyond the one set of honey, despite As Ever still marketing the individual Lavender Honey, called a "warm gift for summer," and the Sage Honey with Honeycomb.
As Ever Products Reportedly Facing Expiration Date Crisis
The dried flower sprinkles show an expiration date of September 2027.
Reports have surfaced claiming Markle has a significant inventory of fruit spreads, honey and other perishables set to expire next year, which could potentially cost her around $5 million in product losses.
The user took a photo showing that the expiration date on the flower sprinkles was marked as "Best Enjoyed By: 09/25/2027," but noted that the chocolates and honey did not include the same information.
"Once products pass their sell-by dates, they effectively become worthless from a retail perspective, leaving the company with little choice but to write off the inventory and dispose of it. That's the scenario people close to the business will be desperate to avoid," a source previously told Radar about As Ever's reported inventory issue.
Meghan Markle Has Highlighted Godmother's Bookstore
Never Miss an
Daily updates from the heart of Hollywood, right to your inbox
By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you’re agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Meghan Markle used Godmothers as one of the settings for her 2025 Bloomberg interview.
As Ever landed its first brick-and-mortar retail partnership with Godmothers — co-owned by Markle's close friend and cosmetics mogul Victoria Jackson — in November 2025. She personally promoted the launch on Instagram while arranging eye-catching product displays.
The rollout got an extra boost when the former actress' pal, Oprah Winfrey, included the brand's fruit spread gift box trio on her coveted list of "Favorite Things" for the 2025 holiday season.
Markle has been a familiar face at Godmothers, using it as a setting for her high-profile Bloomberg podcast interview on The Circuit with Emily Chang in August 2025, ahead of With Love, Meghan's second season on Netflix. The lifestyle series was canceled in January.
She's also appeared at special events, including the October 2025 tour stop of college pal Courtney Adamo to celebrate the launch of her lifestyle book The Family Home.
Video from the live stream of the event showed Markle taking over the microphone to discuss her own household rituals and child-rearing tips.
