Abt Electronics is an independent family-owned

retailer Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

consumer electronics Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic (analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usually r ...

major appliances A major appliance, also known as a large domestic appliance or large electric appliance or simply a large appliance, large domestic, or large electric, is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cook ...

, and

furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

. Abt operates 880,000 square feet at a single location in Glenview, Illinois, on of land, and online since 1997 https://www.abt.com. Abt Electronics now distributes products from coast to coast in the US. The company has operated in the

Chicago market The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hi ...

since 1936.

History

Abt Electronics was founded in 1936 when Jewel Abt gave $800 to her husband David to start a business. The store was originally named Abt Radio as it only sold small electronics in its early days. The original location was a small storefront and service department in the

Logan Square Logan Square may refer to: * Logan Square, Chicago, a neighborhood on the north side of the city * Logan Circle (Philadelphia) or Logan Square, a park in Philadelphia **Logan Square, Philadelphia Logan Square is a neighborhood in Philadelphia. Bou ...

area of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Abt Electronics has expanded many times over the years. The company currently employs more than 1,650 employees in a 450,000 square feet retail store and warehouse in Glenview, Illinois, a suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. In May 2021, Abt announced plans for a 430,000 square-foot addition to their warehouse, effectively doubling the total area of their facility. Construction on the addition is expected to be completed in October 2021. In 2021, the company settled one of many lawsuits, this time with Justin Gibbs, who is African American, were it was alleged "Gibbs and his Black co-workers" were required to work under conditions, "which required them to miss meal breaks and urinate in empty bottles."

Timeline

*1936 - Jewel and Dave Abt open Abt Radio with $800, located at 2835 N. Milwaukee, Chicago, selling small electronics *1953 - Bob Abt (former CEO; died July 23, 2015) begins working at Abt Radio part-time and over summers. *1955 - Abt moves to Logan Square Location at 2858 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. Merchandise is kept off-site at the Hollander warehouse. One van made all the deliveries. *1971 - The Abt family opens a store in

Niles, Illinois Niles is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located in the townships of Maine and Niles, directly neighboring the City of Chicago's far northwest border. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,912. The current mayor of Niles ...

. *1977 - The Logan Square location closes. *1986 - Abt expands the Niles location, doubling in size from 12,000 to . *1990 - The Niles store closes on December 9. *1990 - Abt’s fourth location, in

Morton Grove, Illinois Morton Grove is a village in Cook County, Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 25,297. The village is named after former United States Vice President Levi Parsons Morton, who helped finance the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railr ...

, opens for business December 10. *1990 - Recycling program begins. *1997 - Abt.com was launches. Abt becomes an authorized online retailer for brands like Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Bose, and Onkyo. *2002 - Abt closes the Morton Grove store. On May 26 Abt’s fifth location, in Glenview, Illinois, opens for business. *2005 - May 25, the city of Chicago dedicates the corner of Wolfram and Milwaukee Ave. to Jewel and David Abt. The new corner is called Jewel and David Abt Way. *2008 - Jewel and David Abt are inducted into the 2008 Consumer Electronics Hall of Fame. *2008 - The Abt Design Center opens in June. *2008 - The recycling center opens in October. *2008 - Abt is chosen as the Chicago Tribune's Top Workplace in Chicago. *2009 - Abt's Mobile Installation department is voted one of the top 100 best retailers and installers fro
Mobile Electronics Inc
*2010 - Abt is chosen as the 2010 Dealer of the Year by home automation company Control4 *2010 - Abt is voted in the top 10 of Chicago Tribune's "Top Chicago Workplaces" for the best place to work in the Chicago area. *2010-2020 - Voted the "Best Place to Buy Large Appliances" by Consumer Reports for eleven consecutive years *2011 - Voted the #1 place to work in Chicago Tribune's "Top Chicago Workplaces" *2012 - Voted the #1 place to work in Chicago Tribune's "Top Chicago Workplaces" *2013 - Voted the #20 place to work for nationwide by WorkplaceDynamics *2016 - Voted the #1 place to work in Chicago Tribune's "Top Chicago Workplaces" *2016 - Receives the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics *2016 - Abt completes installation of a 1500-panel rooftop solar array, capable of producing 850 megawatts of power per year *2020 - Receives the Better Business Bureau Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics *2021 - Abt's new 30,000 square foot recycling center opens *2021 - Abt is voted one of Consumer Reports' "Best Place to Buy Small Appliances" *2021 - Construction starts on a new 429,524-square-foot building addition that will double Abt’s warehouse space

Environmental practices

In 2006, Abt built a

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

center which collects the company's used

cardboard Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. The construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard which is made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light b ...

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

and plastic-foam packaging and prepares it to be sold for recycling. Abt opened a new, 30,000 square-foot recycling center in 2021. The company’s recycling program prevents an estimated 2.2 million pounds of cardboard, 350,000 pounds of styrofoam, 1.4 million pounds of electronics, and 13 million pounds of appliances from ending up in landfills. In October 2016, Abt completed work on a rooftop

solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

array. The system comprises more than 1,500 solar panels and has an annual production capacity of 645,000 kWh electricity. The energy produced by the solar array powers regular building operations and is stored in a 500 kW Tesla PowerPack battery cluster.

References

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External links

Official websiteCompany blog
Consumer electronics retailers in the United States Companies based in Glenview, Illinois Retail companies established in 1936 1936 establishments in Illinois Family-owned companies of the United States