Small-Format Grocers Foxtrot, Dom's Closing All Locations 5 Months After Merger
Less than six months after merging, grocers Foxtrot Market and Dom's Kitchen & Market are closing all stores, effective immediately.
The closures affect 33 Foxtrot locations in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Austin and Dallas. Dom's two storefronts are in Chicago.
Foxtrot's first location locked its doors and sent employees home before 10 a.m., Crain's reported. The retailers, known for their delivery service, stopped accepting orders Tuesday morning and shut their app down. Employees were not notified in advance, according to Crain's.
"We explored many avenues to continue the business but found no viable option despite good faith and exhaustive efforts," a press release from the companies said.
Representatives from Foxtrot and Dom's did not immediately respond to Bisnow's request for comment.
The companies merged in November in an all-stock deal, emerging as Outfox Hospitality. Foxtrot CEO Liz Wiliams took over the helm while Dom's Kitchen co-founder Don Fitzgerald and Chairman Jay Owen assumed president and chairman roles, respectively. In February, Rob Twyman replaced Williams as CEO.
At the time of the merger, Owen said the companies were disrupting the grocery shopping landscape and redefining the neighborhood market. He said Outfox "will certainly be watched in the coming years as to how we are able to have that play out."
Urban convenience store Foxtrot was founded in 2013 and raised over $160M across several rounds of funding before the merger, Crain's reported. Upscale grocer Dom's Kitchen and Market was co-founded in 2021 by Bob Mariano, founder of Kroger subsidiary Mariano's, which operates 44 Illinois locations. It raised $50M prior to Outfox.
Grocery and convenience mergers have been frequent in recent years. Some have proved successful, such as Aldi acquiring 400 Winn-Dixie and Harvey stores in August. It has plans to open 800 storefronts in the next five years.
Others are up in the air. In 2022, Kroger and Albertsons announced a $25B merger, the largest of its kind. The move has been challenged by the Federal Trade Commission due to its size. One federal lawsuit later, the two agreed to sell 579 stores Monday to reduce antitrust concerns and hopefully push the deal approvals along.
