Three days after Foxtrot and Dom’s Market announced their sudden closures, former employees are struggling to find jobs.
Several rallied Friday for workers’ rights and believed the parent company, Outfox Hospitality, may have violated the WARN Act. Outfox Hospitality could not be reached for comment Friday, but according to a message on Dom’s Market’s website, “the company explored many options to continue the business but found no viable option despite good faith and exhaustive efforts.”
The fallout caused a domino of damage to other small and locally owned businesses in Chicago.
“It hurts, I’m not going to lie, it’s really going to hurt us,” said Corey Kaplan, the owner of Corey’s Bagels. “We sold them bagels, we sold them cream cheese, our bagel chips, it was a great relationship. .”
Kaplan supplied Dom’s Market daily. He first noticed something was wrong on Sunday when they didn’t receive a purchase order from Dom’s.
“I went back Tuesday morning at 7 o’clock to find out if anything was going on,” Kaplan said. “I went back around 11 o’clock and the doors were locked. It was verbatim the way it happened, nobody knew, management didn’t know.”
Dom’s and Foxtrot closed indefinitely that day.
“I’m still trying to absorb it,” he said. “I think there’s more to the story.”
Dom’s was the bagel shop’s biggest account. Now they’re out at least $10,000, which Kaplan said he never expects to be paid.
He also said he is not alone in this sudden blow to business.
“This has such an effect on so many different people,” Kaplan told NBC 5.
And while Dom’s and Foxtrot are gone, many of the products they sold in their stores are not. Kaplan hopes customers will visit brick-and-mortar stores in Chicago that supplied these grocers in the first place.
“Where are the people who go there and buy Corey’s bagels now? Hopefully they’ll come here,” he said outside his old neighborhood, which has been there for 23 years. “Come visit everybody else like you used to come into that store. Patronize the little guy who helped you get your muffins, your coffee, your cookie, your cookies.”
