The Fresh Market to move into old Dom's Kitchen & Market location in Chicago's Lincoln Park community
CHICAGO (CBS) -- After Dom's Kitchen and Market shut down abruptly along with all Chicago Foxtrot Market locations this past spring, it appears another high-end grocer is ready to move into the old Dom's location at Diversey Parkway and Halsted Street.
A North Carolina-based grocery chain called The Fresh Market is planning to take over the space.
The Fresh Market already has stores in Crystal Lake, Geneva, Lake Forest, and Wilmette.
Dom's Kitchen & Market and Foxtrot Market suddenly closed their stores on April 23, six months after the chains announced a merger. This included Dom's two Chicago locations and all 33 Foxtrot stores in Chicago, Texas, and the Washington, D.C. area.
In addition to the Lincoln Park neighborhood location at 2730 N. Halsted St., Dom's also had a location at 1233 N. Wells St. in Old Town. A third location was set to open this summer at 30 W. Huron St. in River North—with the grocery chain's website promising it was "coming soon"—but the company went out of business before this opening could happen.
Staffers at Dom's were told they got no notice about the closings, and customers who were right in the middle of shopping in the Lincoln Park Dom's store were asked to leave because the whole chain was going out of business. Delivery was halted, mobile apps went dark, and store credit cards were cut off.
Following the grocery stores' abrupt closures, former workers at both stores sued the parent company, accusing management of failing to give employees the required notice of layoffs or proper severance pay.
Dom's had only opened in June 2021, as a new concept from Mariano's founder Bob Mariano. He teamed up with Jay Owen, a descendant of Dominick's Finer Foods store chain founder Dominick DiMatteo, and with former Dominick's executive Don Fitzgerald to create the new store.
Before Dom's, the southwest corner of Diversey and Halsted was occupied by an entire strip mall that had housed a combination Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin Robbins, a Massage Envy, and a Performance Bicycle store. It completely overhauled to make way for the new Dom's.
In November of last year, Foxtrot Market and Dom's merged into a new entity, Outfox Hospitality, which filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in May—weeks after the stores all closed.
Earlier this month, Foxtrot said it plans to reopen some Chicago locations—with Foxtrot co-founder Mike LaVitola back at the helm.