In April 2024, Chicago-based Foxtrot, alongside its new partner at the time Dom’s Kitchen & Market, announced the surprising news that it would be shuttering all of its 35 locations throughout Chicago, Austin and Dallas, Texas, and Washington, D.C. Nearly all of the sites, 33 out of the 35, were Foxtrots.
The retailer posted this message on its website:
“It is with a heavy heart that we must inform you of a difficult decision we have had to make. After much consideration and evaluation, we regret to announce that Foxtrot and Dom’s Kitchen & Market will be closing their doors starting on April 23, 2024. We explored many avenues to continue the business but found no viable option despite good faith and exhaustive efforts.”
However, this respite didn’t last long — in June 2024, roughly two months after the closure, Foxtrot Founder Mike LaVitola announced that the chain planned to start reopening some locations.
Starting in Chicago, Foxtrot reopened one store, then another, until it got to its eighth — where its store count sits today.
CStore Decisions was able to sit down with LaVitola to discuss the company’s unique journey.
Back to Basics
When LaVitola decided to return to the business in the summer of 2024, he had one goal in mind — getting back to basics. Foxtrot is known for being heavily influenced by its community and local culture, which is exactly the strategy that LaVitola wanted to emphasize this time around.
“When I had the opportunity to come back, one of the things that was most important to me was really taking the company back to its core, which was always focused on curation,” he said. “Since we started, it’s been all about finding the best products out there, those that typically come with a really great story attached, and then creating really fun spaces, whether that’s online or in store.”
This time, however, LaVitola found that he could devote more time and energy into each store.
“Curation is great from a customer perspective, because it means that we have a point of view on each product that we carry, and we get to sort of pick our favorites within a category. But, it also means it is so much easier for our teams to operate,” LaVitola continued. “When you carry 2,000 SKUs versus 5,000 SKUs or 4,000 SKUs, think about what that means from an inventory perspective, from a receiving perspective, from an ordering perspective.”
Because of this, he noted, all of the extra time and capital that has been freed up goes right back into investing in the customer experience and internal operations. But the retailer isn’t exactly jumping right back into things.
“We’re taking a much more measured approach this time. And, obviously, we think Foxtrot belongs in a lot more neighborhoods,” LaVitola said. “But, we’re going to do so in a much slower, much more methodical way.”
Foxtrot currently owns 10 of the properties of its previous locations. All new sites beyond those 10 would be net-new locations. In the eight sites that have reopened, Foxtrot has introduced a completely refurbished food and beverage program while maintaining most of its former vendor partnerships.
“Coffee has been a huge part of what we’ve been doing for the last six or seven years … We spent a ton of time re-concepting and investing in the coffee and culinary program,” said LaVitola. “And, there’s a lot more innovation happening on the on the coffee and matcha side in terms of seasonal drinks.”
In terms of future plans, Foxtrot is committed to maximizing value from its first 10 reopened stores. The plan beyond that is “getting back to basics,” LaVitola concluded.
