Abt Electronics is an independent family-owned retailer in the United States of consumer electronics, major appliances, and furniture. Abt operates 880,000 square feet at a single location in Glenview, Illinois, on 70 acre of land ("... 1,200-employee.. 350,000-square-foot location on 37 acres...2015 ), and online since 1997. Abt Electronics now distributes products from coast to coast in the US. The company has operated in the Chicago market since 1936.

History

"In the early 1930s, Mr. Abt sold radios at the old Fair Store on State Street. He wanted to go into the grocery business, but his wife, Jewel, vetoed the idea because she knew the inventory could spoil and he would have to get up at 3 a.m. to go to the market. Instead, they opened Abt Radio in the Logan Square neighborhood." Abt Electronics was founded in 1936 when Jewel (née Fischman ) Abt gave $800 to her husband David Abt 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 area of Chicago. Abt Electronics has expanded many times over the years. Abt electronics currently employs more than 1,650 employees in a 450,000 square feet retail store and warehouse in Glenview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. 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.

Timeline

Environmental practices

In 2006, Abt built a recycling center which collects the company's used cardboard, plastic 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 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.