founded 1936 headquarters glenview cook county illinois u.s. products consumer electronics appliances number of employees 1200 website official website abt electronics is an independent retailer in the united states of consumer electronics major appliances and furniture . 1 abt operates at a single location in glenview illinois on 37 acres 150 000 m2 of land and since 1997 through an online retail website . 2 the store is a family owned business that has operated in the chicago market since 1936 . contents 1 history 2 environmental practices 3 references 4 external links history edit abt electronics began in 1936 3 when jewel abt gave 800 to her husband david to start a business . 4 the firm was originally named abt radio because 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 . 4 abt electronics expanded over the years to employ 1100 employees on a 65 000 square feet 6 000 m2 sales floor 5 in glenview a suburb of chicago . by 1955 the store was strictly a showroom with merchandise kept at a separate warehouse . 1936 jewel and dave abt opened abt radio with 800 located at 2835 n. milwaukee chicago . abt radio had a small service department . the store sold small electronics 6 1953 bob abt former ceo ; died july 23 2015 began working at abt radio part time and over summers . 1955 moved to logan square location at 2858 n. milwaukee ave. chicago . merchandise was kept off site at the hollander warehouse . one van made all the deliveries . 1962 bob abt began working full time at abt radio . 1971 the abt family opened a store in niles illinois and kept both locations open for 6 years . 1975 the abt fleet grew from one van to four 16 trucks . 1975 mike abt began working part time at abt . 1977 the logan square location closed . 1981 jon abt began working part time at abt . 1985 fire at abt the only time that abt was closed when it was scheduled to be open . 1985 billy abt began working part time at abt . 1986 abt expanded the niles location . abt doubled in size from 12 000 to 24 000 square feet 2 200 m2 . 1988 abt began hosting classes on product usage . 1989 mike abt began working for abt full time . 1990 the niles store closed on december 9 at 9 p.m. 1990 abt s fourth location in morton grove illinois opened for business at 9 a.m. december 10 . 1990 recycling program begins . 1995 billy abt began working at abt full time . 1997 abt completed an addition to its morton grove doubling its size . 1997 abt.com was launched and abt became an authorized on line retailer for brands like sony panasonic toshiba bose and onkyo . 1998 jon abt began working at abt full time . 2002 may 26 abt s fifth location in glenview illinois opened for business . 2005 may 25 the city of chicago dedicated the corner of wolfram and milwaukee ave. to jewel and david abt . the new corner is called jewel and david abt way . 2005 newsweek featured abt in an article abt beta testing paradise . 2007 june through september abt took part in the city of chicago s cool globes program encouraging people to take action against global warming . 2007 the wall street journal featured abt in an article a way to fight big rivals play up style and service . 2008 jewel and david abt are inducted into the 2008 consumer electronics hall of fame . 2008 march the wall street journal featured abt in an article about abt s green initiatives . 2008 in june abt opens the design center 2008 in oct the 10 000 square foot 930 m2 recycling center opens 2008 abt won the partners for clean air award . 2008 abt chosen as the chicago tribune s top workplace in chicago . 2009 abt s mobile installation department was voted one of the top 100 best retailers and installers from mobile electronics inc. 2010 abt begins selling hvac equipment furnishing homes with water heaters furnaces air conditioners and more . 2010 chosen as the 2010 dealer of the year by control4 ; a premier home automation company . 2010 voted in the top 10 of chicago tribune s top chicago workplaces for the best place to work in the chicago area . 7 2011 creates a trade in your old electronics program allowing consumers to get the latest and greatest products . 2011 voted the 1 place to work in chicago tribune s top chicago workplaces 8 2012 abt enters the field of home security providing customers added comfort and security to their daily lives . 2012 abt updates their atrium by designing a new loft carrying a wide selection of mattresses . 2012 voted the 1 place to work in chicago tribune s top chicago workplaces 9 2013 voted the 20 place to work for nationwide by workplacedynamics 10 environmental practices edit in 2006 the company built a recycling center which collects the company s used cardboard plastic and plastic foam packaging and prepares it to be sold for recycling . 11 12 the recycling center processes 150 loads of styrofoam and 200 loads of cardboard per week . abt recycles 20 000 wood pallets and plastic bags per week . in 2008 abt installed two small wind turbines and solar panels on the roof to help reduce energy costs at their store . 12 references edit gemperlein joyce 9 may 2004 . appliance lust . the washington post . retrieved 2008 07 25 . abt company description hoovers.com ; accessed july 26 2015 . springen karen ; mcginn daniel 21 february 2005 . beta testing paradise . newsweek . retrieved 2008 07 25 . a b wolf alan 22 december 2003 . that was the year that was a retail retrospective . twice . retrieved 2008 07 25 . abt opens sony shop . twice . 20 november 2006 . retrieved 2008 07 25 . abt company history . archived from the original on april 10 2010 . retrieved 2010 04 20 . chicago s top workplaces 2010 the winners . chicago tribune . 2010 . retrieved june 19 2014 . chicago s top workplaces 2011 the winners . chicago tribune . 2011 . retrieved june 19 2014 . chicago s top workplaces 2012 the winners . chicago tribune . 2012 . retrieved june 19 2014 . top 150 national top workplaces 2013 . topworkplaces.com . 2013 . retrieved june 19 2014 . schwarz phil 20 february 2007 . bill aims to keep electronic garbage out of landfills . wls tv abc 7 . retrieved 2008 07 25 . a b brat ilan 24 march 2008 . the extra step . the wall street journal . retrieved 2008 07 25 . external links edit official website company blog retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title abt electronics & oldid 742321661 categories consumer electronics retailers in the united statescompanies based in cook county illinoishidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 3 october 2016 at 01 10 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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