ABC Warehouse

ABC Warehouse, Inc. or ABC Appliance, Inc. is a chain of retail appliance and electronics stores based in Pontiac, Michigan. It was founded in 1963 by Gordon Hartunian, and operates 42 stores in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. The chain also operates 16 Mickey Shorr Mobile Electronics stores [1] and 2 Hawthorne Home Appliances & Electronics stores. They are known for their advertising motto "The Closest Thing To Wholesale". In the last few years ABC has added mattresses and furniture to their retail offerings, including products from Sealy & Lane.

ABC Warehouse
Typeprivate
IndustryRetail
Founded1963
FounderGordon Hartunian
Headquarters
Pontiac, Michigan
,
U.S.
Number of locations
ABC Warehouse 42, Mickey Shorr 16, Hawthorne 2
Key people
Martin Hartunian (CEO)
ProductsConsumer electronics, home appliance
RevenueUS$ 374.3 million
Number of employees
1,750

History

Gordon Hartunian opened the first ABC Warehouse store in a former warehouse in Center Line, Michigan. By 1980, he had opened a second store in Pontiac and a third in Flint. Hartunian was previously employed by another appliance store called Hot & Cold, which closed all of its Detroit stores.[2]

In 2009, General Electric signed a financial contract with the chain to provide the in house ABC credit card.[3]

Advertising

In the 1980s, ABC Warehouse used Ernest P. Worrell in its television advertising.[4] Children were offered a paper Ernest mask in the store.

In the 1990s, ABC commercials featured "The ABC Warehouse Employees Choir" who sung their own songs like "Price Protection" (sung to the tune of Alouette).[5]

From the late 90s to the late 2000s, ABC featured their founder Gordon "Gordy" Hartunian in a series of ads called "Gordyisms".[6]

References
  1. Kepos, P. (1994). International directory of company histories. 10. St. James Press. ISBN 9781558623255. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  2. Brauer, Molly (October 16, 1996). "The ABCs of Success". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  3. "findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_20090803/ai_n32406221/". findarticles.com. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  4. "History of ABC Appliance, Inc. – FundingUniverse". fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  5. "ABC Warehouse (1993) - YouTube". youtube.com. Retrieved 2015-01-29.
  6. "ABC Warehouse - Gordyisms". abcwarehouse.com. Archived from the original on 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2015-01-29.


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