About Abt Electronics and Electrical Appliances
Abt Electronics began in 1936 when Jewel Abt gave $800 to her husband
David to start a business. Originally named Abt Radio (since it only
sold small electronics) Abt Electronics has since become the place to
shop for many people in the Midwest. Starting with three employees in a
small storefront in the Logan Square area of Chicago, Abt Electronics
has grown to more than 1000 employees and occupies 29 acres in Glenview
IL, a suburb of Chicago.
Second & third-generation family members work in the store, which has
virtually every brand name, high-end electronics product and appliance
on display in its showroom. Fifty trucks, 38 custom-install step vans
and 46 service vans make approximately 6,000 service calls and
deliveries each week.
With a history of continuous growth in what is a very competitive
business, Abt Electronics receives more than 90 percent of its business
from repeat and referred customers. Abt Electronics has withstood
intense competition from large chain stores and survived the test of
time by giving personal service, providing award winning installations
and repair work, maintaining competitive prices and meeting changing
customer needs.
In 1998, AbtElectronics.com was launched and became one of a handful of
authorized online retailers for brands like Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba,
Bose and Onkyo. A recent article from the Chicago Tribune stated, "Abt's
keys to success are the family's almost fanatical devotion to quality
service and competitive pricing, its development of a higher-end niche,
its in-the-trenches mode of management and its down-to-earth, low-key
approach to selling and showroom decor."
From Abt Electronics' humble beginning, the business has grown over time
into one of the largest single-store operations in the country |