Abt Electronics Adds Candy Offerings

GLENVIEW, IL — Local electronics and appliance retailer Abt Electronics has added a candy shop in order to offer customers a bit of an extra incentive to come in to the showroom and an extra treat after a major purchase.

A third-generation family business, Abt has continued to grow in a difficult market for brick-and-morter appliance retailers. It is the largest single-store retailer of electronics and appliances and it has been ranked as top workplace in Chicago and one of the country's best small companies.

Key to its success has been picking up customers from its competitors as they close and keeping them satisfied. And now, it's hoping some in-store sweets will keep shoppers smiling. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Glenview — or your community. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

The newest location of Dylan's Candy Bar — the New-York based "confectionery emporium" founded by the daughter of designer Ralph Lauren — is inside the Abt Electronics store, where it has replaced a kitchen display on the showroom's first floor, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The company's co-president, Mike Abt, said the retailer considered some other options for the space, including opening up a liquor store or a marijuana room, before settling on the candy shop.

"There's many things you can do to entertain people, and candy is definitely one," he told the paper.

» Read more from the Chicago Tribune

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