Bankrupt Retailer That Suddenly Closed All Stores For Good Is Now Reopening

Two months ago, popular upscale grocery store Foxtrot, which, along with Dom's Kitchen & Market, was geared toward urban consumers and sold everything from freshly made sandwiches and baked goods to organic wine filed for bankruptcy and abruptly shuttered all of their locations. The closings were so sudden that, according to one witness , they happened while customers were still inside. Well now, the chain's assets have been purchased by another company and this summer, they'll be opening back up a handful of their 33 stores which had closed.

Foxtrot's assets were purchased by Further Point Enterprises last month and, with the help of Foxtrot founder Mike LaVitola , have big plans for the brand. LaVitola told Crain's Chicago Business , "It's a totally new company starting from scratch, but [we] have the Foxtrot name and the [intellectual property] and a bunch of our locations. We're like a new startup again."

He added, "We wanted to set ourselves up for success and really doing that in the markets we know best, which are our home markets in Chicago and Texas. There's still a lot of growth ahead... We're still very ambitious and have big goals, but we can now do it in a more measured way." They also plan on opening one to two new store each year.

As for what happened in April with the chain, LaVitola is unsure why the company had to file for bankruptcy shortly after merging with Dom's. While he was an advisor at the time, he was not aware of the financial issues. He stated, "I still have my own questions as to what happened. I think everyone was really surprised that a brand that was this strong with customers and this strong with vendors... could just fold up."

Currently, their website only shows a photo a sky during sunrise with the caption, "A new Foxtrot with some old friends. Coming soon." Keep an eye on it for updates.