| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | E-tail |
| Founded | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Kirkland, Washington, USA |
| Key people | Gary Rubens, CEO; Brad Halbach, VP Operations |
| Products | Decorative Lighting, Plumbing, Hardware |
| Website | www.ATGStores.com |
ATG Stores is the trade name for Allied Trade Group, Inc., an e-commerce company which began in 1999 with the launch of its first website, Lighting Universe. ATG added 50 niche stores in the beginning of 2008 [1] and presently encompasses around 500 websites in multiple home furnishings categories, specializing in product sales of a variety of name brand manufacturers, and has 3 retail locations throughout Washington state.
The company currently operates niche online stores in lighting, plumbing, furniture, outdoor furniture, office furniture and home improvement under the ATG Stores brand. ATG Stores features different manufacturers each month on their homepage[2].
Lighting Universe was formed in 1999 with the intent to consolidate lighting catalogs and pricing online for designers and lighting specifiers, as well as homeowners and contractors[3]. In 2000 LightingUniverse.com went live with a catalog of around 5,000 products. Two years later ATG Stores launched FixtureUniverse.com, targeting plumbing fixtures and decorative bath products. In 2003 Allied Trade Group, Inc. was formed as the parent company of Lighting Universe and Fixture Universe with the goal to grow into a full line home furnishings supplier.
ATG Stores opened their first brick and mortar showroom in May 2004 with its first store in Kirkland, Washington[4] their second showroom was purchased from The Lighting Co in August 2004[5]. ATG Stores began selling flooring and home decor with the launch of KnobandHardware.com and DecorUniverse.com in November 2005.
ATG Stores has received placement of their Lighting Universe, Fixture Universe and Knobs and Hardware divisions on Bob Villa in June 2006, HGTV in July 2006, Cooking.com in October 2006[6] and TrueValue.com in January 2007[7].
ATG Stores has been on Inc. Magazine's fastest growing companies list twice. Once in 124th place in 2006 [8] and once in 412th place in 2007[9]. They have also received local recoginization by the Puget Sound Business Journal, in 2006 they were ranked #16 and in 2007 ranked #31 on their list of fastest growing companies in the Northwest.