Exterior shot of Foxtrot’s Gold Coast store in Chicago | Photo credit: Foxtrot

US coffee and grocery chain Foxtrot has announced plans to reopen six outlets in Chicago this summer, just two months after closing its 33 stores with immediate effect. 
 

In April 2024, the coffee shop and boutique grocery chain posted a notice on its website that it had ‘found no viable option’ to continue the business and abruptly shuttered all its stores across Illinois and Texas. 

The revival of the coffee shop-grocery concept is being led by its founder Mike LaVitola, who stepped down as Foxtrot CEO when it merged with two-store Dom’s Kitchen & Market in December 2023 to form new entity Outfox Hospitality. LaVitola retained advisory and board roles at Outfox Hospitality until its closure. 

Following the closures, the assets of 15 Foxtrot locations – including goods, equipment, inventory and intellectual property – were sold to venture capital firm Further Point Enterprises for $2.2m, with LaVitola named an Executive Chairman of the business the following month. 

Further Point Enterprises entered into lease agreements for six of the retailer’s former Chicago stores on 31 May 2024, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.  

LaVitola told Dallas Morning News that Further Point is currently negotiating with landlords with a view to reopen the six sites in August 2024 and will explore opportunities to reopen the remaining nine sites it acquired in Chicago and Texas later in the year. 

The Further Point acquisition did not include the two Dom’s Kitchen & Market sites previously operated by Outfox Hospitality. LaVitola did not disclose whether Further Point will seek to acquire the remaining 18 Foxtrot stores which closed in April.