Abt Electronics

Abt Electronics began in 1936 when Jewel Abt gave $800 to her husband David to start a business. Abt Electronics has grown to more than 1100 employees and occupies 37 acres in Glenview IL, a suburb of Chicago. Abt now operates 60 large delivery trucks, 45 custom installation trucks, and more than 100 service vans.

They have virtually every brand name, high-end electronics product and appliance on display on their site. 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.

In 1998, Abt.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.