diff --git a/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js b/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js
index be920272d48f0..666342cf444b3 100644
--- a/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js
+++ b/workspaces/arborist/lib/arborist/reify.js
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ const {
   mkdir,
   rm,
   symlink,
+  access,
 } = require('node:fs/promises')
 const { moveFile } = require('@npmcli/fs')
 const PackageJson = require('@npmcli/package-json')
@@ -123,10 +124,19 @@ module.exports = cls => class Reifier extends cls {
       // we do NOT want to set ownership on this folder, especially
       // recursively, because it can have other side effects to do that
       // in a project directory.  We just want to make it if it's missing.
-      await mkdir(resolve(this.path), { recursive: true })
+      const resolvedPath = resolve(this.path)
+      try {
+        await access(resolvedPath)
+      } catch (accessError) {
+        if (accessError.code === 'ENOENT') {
+          await mkdir(resolvedPath, { recursive: true })
+        } else {
+          throw accessError
+        }
+      }
 
       // do not allow the top-level node_modules to be a symlink
-      await this.#validateNodeModules(resolve(this.path, 'node_modules'))
+      await this.#validateNodeModules(resolve(resolvedPath, 'node_modules'))
     }
     await this[_loadTrees](options)