Photo provided by Choice Market
Choice Market Holdings, the urban convenience store retailer that filed for bankruptcy in May, has gone out of business, according to a LinkedIn post from founder and CEO Mike Fogerty.
“We have been considering the possibility of restructuring for several months, but unfortunately Choice has decided to close permanently,” he said.
“I want to thank all of our investors, employees, suppliers, friends and family for believing in me and our mission to make delicious food just a little bit more convenient,” Fogarty said. “The past seven years have been the most challenging and rewarding of my life. With Choice, we are helping our industry push the limits for the next generation who value quality, health, and convenience. I hope I’ve helped you think differently about what it means to expand and innovate. Until then, I’ll take all the learnings and apply them to this new chapter. I would like to express my feelings to you. Please move on.”
In 2017, Fogarty left the pharmaceutical industry to dive into convenience retail and launch Choice Market. He believed that the future of convenience store retailing lies in frictionless, contactless shopping across multiple platforms.
Choice Market operated five convenience stores in Denver ranging from 3,000 square feet to 5,000 square feet. We combine convenience, service and technology with carefully selected eco-friendly products including fresh produce, groceries and household items from local vendors. We also offer seasonal cuisine from a full-service scratch kitchen prepared by traditionally trained chefs. Choice Market works with local farmers to source most of its ingredients and products, including organic produce and antibiotic- and nitrate-free proteins. One location provided fuel.
Denver-based Choice Market Holdings Inc., along with its subsidiaries Choice Market Uptown LLC and Choice Market Bannock LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 6, according to a filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado in Denver. applied for application.
Fogerty told CSP: “This is a challenge that other retailers, especially small retailers and high-growth retailers, are facing in terms of inflation, fewer people switching to value-oriented products, and labor shortages. We have overcome many of the same challenges,” he told CSP. About bankruptcy. “It was just all the headwinds we could face. Sometimes you hit unexpected headwinds like a pandemic. That headwind affects the entire business, and certain locations are more susceptible to that headwind. , while there were other locations that were doing very well, so for a small retailer, one bad location can have a dramatic impact on the overall business. So this is a combination of factors and unfortunately we hit a wall where we had to restructure the process and do everything we could to get it going. .”
Fogarty wants to shift the strategy to a small-footprint, automated mini-mart format going forward, and most of the conversations over the past year or so have revolved around that concept. Choice Market was launching a new Mini-Mart powered by artificial intelligence (AI). The company launched its first fully cashierless minimart at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in October 2022. The company planned to expand the format nationally through strategic partnerships with hospitals, apartment developers, music and entertainment venues, airports, and electric vehicles (EVs). ) Charging stations and university campuses.
The company submitted a restructuring plan in early September. However, according to court documents, the financing that Choice Market had arranged earlier this year failed for reasons unrelated to Choice Market, making the plan “no longer viable,” Fogerty said. The judge handed down the verdict on October 4th. Request to convert bankruptcy to Chapter 7 liquidation.
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Greg Lindenberg has been covering convenience store news and writing about the convenience store and gas station industries for more than a quarter century. He specializes in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) news.
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