WINCHESTER — After nearly three years, Winchester’s first and only commercial container gardening business has shut down.
Fox Urban Farms, which grew produce at 1001 S. Loudoun St. using a hydroponic system inside two specially accessorized trailers, has closed due to what owners John and Ann Fox say was a disappointing lack of support from local shoppers.
“Last year, we really looked at it and it wasn’t making the money it needed to make,” John Fox said on Tuesday. “We didn’t have the people that we needed to have, and some of that was due to market fit. Winchester is not a big foodie town.”
But there is a silver lining. The Foxes sold the two hydroponic trailers — each valued at $150,000 and each capable of growing plants in nutrient-enriched water rather than soil — to Frederick County Public Schools. The couple did not want to go into detail about how the schools will utilize the trailers, other than to say they are going to be used for educational purposes.
“Luckily, it’s going to stay here in our community,” Ann Fox said about the hydroponic containers. “We brought it here and it gets to stay here, so I’m OK with that.”
“We’re still able to be very involved with training and teaching them how to use the units, and the kids are really going to get a lot of education,” John Fox added.
On Tuesday morning, a crane from Brian Omps Towing and Repair in Winchester visited Fox Urban Farms to lift the trailers, one by one, onto the back of a flatbed truck so they could be delivered to the school system.
The trailers have heating and cooling, and are fully equipped with all of the electrical and plumbing features needed to grow the same amount of produce as you could on 5 acres of land. A computer system controls the trailers’ LED grow lights.
Fox Urban Farms opened in late 2022, just two years after the Foxes sold their previous business, Greenwood Grocery and Deli. The Foxes operated the popular Frederick County store from 2004 to 2020.
The college sweethearts from East Carolina University wanted to try something new after selling Greenwood Grocery. They realized there was no container gardening operation in Winchester, so they decided to open their own, then taught themselves how to grow produce.
Container gardening was so novel for the city in 2022 that its zoning code did not include a district that allowed for such a venture, so the Foxes had to obtain a special permit from City Council to place the trailers on a leased lot at 1001 S. Loudoun St.
Their efforts will benefit the next person who wants to open a container gardening operation in Winchester. In 2023, Winchester Zoning Administrator Alfredo Gutierrez-Velasquez worked with the Planning Commission to add urban farming to the list of allowable land uses in the zoning code. (At that time, John Fox was a member of the Planning Commission, so he recused himself from all discussions. He is now a Ward 4 representative on City Council.)
John Fox said Fox Urban Farms got a lot of moral support from area residents who were excited about buying locally grown lettuce, herbs and other produce, but that didn’t translate into enough sales to sustain the business.
The Foxes bolstered their revenues by contracting with several area restaurants that purchased their fresh produce, but again, there just weren’t enough dining establishments to keep the farming operation in business.
“We certainly appreciated those relationships, but we needed a bit more,” John Fox said.
The couple said container gardens have proven to be very successful in other urban areas, so they were disappointed to discover that theirs couldn’t make it in Winchester.
“There is another guy who does the same business and he thrives really well,” Ann Fox said, referring to a similar operation in Charleston, South Carolina.
While the Foxes could have potentially saved Fox Urban Farms by moving to or selling products in Northern Virginia, Ann Fox said doing so would have gone against their vow to be a local business that exclusively serves local consumers.
“We brought it here to Winchester to be part of this community, not to outsource to other communities,” she said.
“If we wanted to take products into [Washington] D.C. and Northern Virginia, we would have put the business there,” her husband added.
Earlier this year, when the Foxes realized their farming operation was struggling, John Fox took a job as a commercial real estate adviser with SVN Commercial Specialists in Winchester. Ann Fox continued to operate Fox Urban Farms, coming in several hours each day to make sure the plants were thriving and the equipment was operating properly, and her husband helped out with sales on weekends.
Moving forward, John Fox said he will continue working at SVN Commercial Specialists while Ann Fox takes some well-deserved time off.
“It’s pretty exciting,” she said, noting that all four of their children are grown and out of the house. “Now we’re empty nesters, so there’s lots of work to do there, and then I’ll figure out what else I’m going to do.”
The Foxes aren’t bitter about closing Fox Urban Farms, but John Fox said its closure should serve as a warning for area residents.
“If you’re not supporting farms, don’t be surprised when they go away,” he said. “People don’t want data centers and they don’t want growth, but if you’re not supporting farms, don’t be surprised when those types of things pop up.”
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