Fox & Obel--Southside branch

Today’s Sun-Times reports that Fox & Obel will open in the vacant building on the northeast corner of Wabash and Roosevelt (the terra cotta clad two-story building across from Bongo Room).

Wow . . . what a disappointment. All that PR build-up about a second location and it ends up being less than 2.5 miles away from location #1. How utterly convenient.

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ronnie_suburban wrote:Wow . . . what a disappointment. All that PR build-up about a second location and it ends up being less than 2.5 miles away from location #1. How utterly convenient.

Sorry, man, but as a Pilsen-ite, I'm stoked. What with the Whole Foods on Roosevelt/Canal (if it ever opens up) and now Fox&Obel just blocks away...my food budget will get blown out, but it'll be a happy day for we of the south-ish side.

That's a historic building in Chicago, and F&O will be a good tenant for it. Given the gentrification of the neighborhood and the demographics of the area - it's a good spot for the store; different market than the first store.

crrush wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Wow . . . what a disappointment. All that PR build-up about a second location and it ends up being less than 2.5 miles away from location #1. How utterly convenient.

Sorry, man, but as a Pilsen-ite, I'm stoked. What with the Whole Foods on Roosevelt/Canal (if it ever opens up) and now Fox&Obel just blocks away...my food budget will get blown out, but it'll be a happy day for we of the south-ish side.

LOL, no worries. I understand what you're saying and I'm happy for you. But seriously (no snark intended at all), is the original location so far away that it's off your radar? And more rhetorically, will this location really draw that many new customers, or will it just siphon off current customers from the original location?

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ronnie_suburban wrote:LOL, no worries. I understand what you're saying and I'm happy for you. But seriously (no snark intended at all), is the original location so far away that it's off your radar? And more rhetorically, will this location really draw that many new customers, or will it just siphon off current customers from the original location?

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As another pilsen-ite, yeah, the original location is inconvenient enough that it's off my radar. Heading down to the downtown/gold coast/river north region (I don't work down there anymore) and then having to valet park or hike a ways from the el just to get a loaf of bread or some beef is not worth it.

Their new location will be right by the red line, the roosevelt bus. Hopefully it'll also have a better parking situation.

ronnie_suburban wrote:But seriously (no snark intended at all), is the original location so far away that it's off your radar? And more rhetorically, will this location really draw that many new customers, or will it just siphon off current customers from the original location?

I definitely see your point, but given the parking at the current F&O and my general avoidance of that part of the city, I actually don't go to F&O that much. But I will be going to the new location. I don't think it'll siphon current customers, but will draw the 'new' crowd in the South Loop area. If you've ever been to the Jools across the street, you'll understand the desperation for a good (even if it's overpriced) market, particularly one with such an outstanding cheese, charcuterie and meat dept.

But I agree that it's odd to place a new location so close to the old. I just ain't complainin' about it.

Bongo Room and Eleven City Diner must be stoked to get the new draw to that area.

Thanks, gleam and crrush for the comments. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I love F&O and feel like they really know what they are doing, so if I had to bet, I'd bet this will work out well for them.

Also, I agree that parking at the original F&O -- even with valet -- is terrible. This new location, even though it is farther from my house, will certainly be more convenient for me and if the parking is decent at all, it'll be that much more of a plus.

Still, I wish this newest location had popped up somewhere a bit further north, like between Lincoln Square and Evanston. I know they have additional expansion plans, so I hope a more northerly F&O store is on the radar and eventually becomes a reality.

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Even though F & O is absurdly expensive, I'm excited about this news -- we in "The Gap" (Bronzeville's most exclusive area, hee hee) will actually be able to get yuppie food w/o braving north side traffic.

I live two blocks south of where the new F&O will be opening, and yes the original location is inconvenient enough that I never go there. The parking is annoying, and traffic is a pain in the neck. I'm definitely excited to hear that an upscale place like this is going in at that location, the neighborhood is really starved for good food and retail.

As an interesting aside I was told earlier this year by two different candidates vying for alderman that Sunflower Market was going into that space. Fox and Obel is definitely a nicer place than Sunflower, so I guess it's just as well that the original plans apparently fell through.

I don't think it's been brought up here yet but it was reported in last week's Dish that Fox and Obel are going to be acquired by Vulpes, LLC. My first reaction was disappointment because it's such a great store and new owners are bound to have a vision that differs at least a little bit from that of the current ownership.

My hope is that the place remains at least as wonderful as it is now or improves in ways unforeseen. But, my hunch is that this is likely the end of a really great thing.

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Dish wrote:Vulpes, LLC, a group of locally based investors led by the food retail veteran Bill Bolton, has agreed to purchase Fox & Obel (401 E. Illinois St.; 312-410-7301), Chicago’s leading gourmet food shop. The name will not change, nor will the people involved, but according to Fox & Obel’s president and CEO, Keith Montague, the deal leverages F & O’s longtime plan: expansion. “For a long time we have wanted to build additional stores and go to other areas,” Montague told us. “River North, South Loop, North Shore: all tremendous areas. Naperville, Oak Park. We are a small company and don’t have the luxury of opening sites that won’t be successful, so we want to be careful to do it right.” The deal, whose financial terms were not made public, is scheduled to close at the end of January.

I too am very puzzled at the South Loop. Lincoln Park/Lakeview seems like such a more logical choice for numerous reasons.

Being a LP'r who doesn't drive, I don't go to the Streeterville location for the reasons mentioned above. Given this locations very easy Red Line access, I probably will make it down there far more than I did to E. Illinois.

I distantly knew Bill Bolton when he was running things at Jewel - my impression was that he was a very sharp marketing guy. My guess is that he understands what the Fox & Obel brand stands for, and won't try to dilute it.

Sam Harmon wrote:I too am very puzzled at the South Loop. Lincoln Park/Lakeview seems like such a more logical choice for numerous reasons.

Being a LP'r who doesn't drive, I don't go to the Streeterville location for the reasons mentioned above. Given this locations very easy Red Line access, I probably will make it down there far more than I did to E. Illinois.

I'm not the least bit puzzled -- take a drive around the South Loop and check out all of the new housing. I suppose that's what Whole Foods, Sam's, Binny's, etc. all noticed. The area is booming, and doing so in a somewhat condensed area.

That being said, everything I've read in the past indicates that they're not looking to open only one more Chicago location, so maybe a north side F&O is in the future.

As for what new investors bring to the table, I'm guessing they invested because they like the niche that the F&O people found lacking in Chicago, and realize that for F&O to succeed, they must continue to nail down that particular segment -- specifically, someone looking for a large scale, gourmet grocer, akin to Whole Foods, but which appeals to persons looking for perhaps higher quality or more unusual ingredients than Whole Foods. I would expect that they will bring new ideas to the table, but I'd be shocked if they tried to scale down the quality of goods offered.

BR wrote:As for what new investors bring to the table, I'm guessing they invested because they like the niche that the F&O people found lacking in Chicago, and realize that for F&O to succeed, they must continue to nail down that particular segment ....

The tone of the press release was that mostly they brought money to the table. The former owner was quoted as saying that they had wanted to expand for quite some time but didn't have the money or management firepower to pull it off.

stevez wrote:

BR wrote:As for what new investors bring to the table, I'm guessing they invested because they like the niche that the F&O people found lacking in Chicago, and realize that for F&O to succeed, they must continue to nail down that particular segment ....

The tone of the press release was that mostly they brought money to the table. The former owner was quoted as saying that they had wanted to expand for quite some time but didn't have the money or management firepower to pull it off.

True . . . but since they are investors in the business, and not simply a bank providing a loan, I suspect they will bring in some of their own ideas. I would think that's natural. Of course, I'm guessing the F&O principals saw enough good to decide to bring this particular group of investors into the business.

BR wrote:I'm not the least bit puzzled -- take a drive around the South Loop and check out all of the new housing. I suppose that's what Whole Foods, Sam's, Binny's, etc. all noticed. The area is booming, and doing so in a somewhat condensed area.

Nobody denies that the South Loop is booming. No one can also deny that LP has a far higher concentration of wealthy households than the South Loop/Pilsen/Chinatown, and is further away from the Streeterville location, and is more convenient for additional affluent households in Lakeview and Bucktown to get to.

All the other stores on your list were already firmly established in LP before moving into the South Loop. It would seem logical that F&O would have gone to Lincoln Park first, then the SL--not the other way around.

I'm surprised everyone thinks the parking arrangements at the original Fox and Obel are terrible. I don't! They offer free underground parking in the parking garage for the AMC theaters on the block kitty-corner from F&O. I forget what the specifics are, but it's free for long enough I ever spend there, even if I'm getting something to eat in the cafe - 60 or 90 minutes, I think. It's indoors, I've never failed to find a spot, and from your car you just take the elevator to the ground floor and you're just a few steps away from the market. Right after you check out at the market, you hand your parking ticket to the service desk at F&O, they stamp it, and you just feed it into the machine at the exit of the garage, no need to pay or stop on your way back to the car. EASY.

I know it's not as easy as it used to be, when they had the lot across the street, but given the density of usage in that neighborhood, it's understandable that a ground-level parking lot isn't the most cost-effective use of expensive land. And the garage is FREE and easy and reasonably close by.

Heck, I just use the complimentary valet. Costs a few bucks to tip the guy, but in the context of a Fox & Obel visit I deem that a largely insignificant expenditure

I typically park in the 15 minute loading zone across the street on McClurg or or in front of Dick's on the F&O side of McClurg. Along the lines of "If you have to ask, you can't afford it," my mantra is that if I'm spending more than 15 minutes in there, I probably can't afford it. Of course, the goals of the 15 minute rule were thwarted when I took well less than 15 minutes to purchase a dry-aged bone-in ribeye the other day that came in at just under two pounds. And the funny thing is, I had a $10 off a purchase of $50 or more coupon we had received in the mail and had to explain to my wife that the entire required purchase amount went to one piece of meat. But damn was that a great piece of meat.

Well Sam's and Potbellys moved into that Wabash and Roosevelt space a few months back, so I suppose this discussion is largely moot now. As far as the South Loop v. Lincoln Park debate, I agree with BR that the South Loop would really provide a prime location for Fox & Obel (especially since there is still little competition from other similar businesses in the neighborhood.) The South Loop is now rapidly expanding as it becomes home to more and more upwardly mobile types, and it has the added benefit of not being nearly as over-crowded as the Lincoln Park/Clybourn Corridor mess.

I have no new information, but a justification:

SMT wrote: The South Loop is now rapidly expanding as it becomes home to more and more upwardly mobile types, and it has the added benefit of not being nearly as over-crowded as the Lincoln Park/Clybourn Corridor mess.

A South Loop location has several advantages over something on the north side:
a) being an early mover in the market; LP/LV in particular appears to be saturated by WFMI and others
b) not cannibalizing the existing trade area; yes, indeed, the Loop is a pain to traverse for someone coming from the south, which explains why so many chains have locations on both State and Michigan
c) better access by transit and (sigh) car
d) higher population & income growth prospects
e) national chains often work from demographic data that are usually a few years old and haven't quite clued in to the magnitude of this neighborhood's growth; this gives local players an advantage

However, all of the above, save C-2, would also apply to a location a bit closer in, or perhaps even inside the Loop. Although this particular site is gone, there are plenty of other available retail spaces closer to Central Station and its high-rises.