FILED PURSUANT TO RULE 424(b)(3)
                                                FILE NUMBER 333-20979

PROSPECTUS

                           APOGEE ENTERPRISES, INC.
                               _________________

                                430,242 SHARES
                                      OF
                                 COMMON STOCK
                             ($.33-1/3 PAR VALUE)
                               _________________

     This Prospectus relates to an aggregate of 430,242 shares (the "Shares") of
Common Stock, par value $.33-1/3 per share (the "Common Stock"), of Apogee
Enterprises, Inc., a Minnesota corporation ("Apogee" or the "Company"), that may
be sold from time to time by The Gene R. Cohen Revocable Trust (the "Selling
Shareholder"). See "Selling Shareholder." The Company will not receive any
proceeds from the sale of the Shares. The Company has agreed to pay the expenses
of registration of the Shares, including certain legal and accounting fees.

     Any or all of the Shares may be offered from time to time in transactions
on the NASDAQ National Market, in brokerage transactions at prevailing market
prices or in transactions at negotiated prices. See "Plan of Distribution."

     The Shares offered hereby have not been registered under the blue sky or
securities laws of any jurisdiction, and any broker or dealer should assure the
existence of an exemption from registration or effectuate such registration in
connection with the offer and sale of the Shares.

     The Common Stock is traded on the NASDAQ National Market under the symbol
"APOG." On March 7, 1997, the closing price of the Common Stock on the
NASDAQ National Market was $21.13 per share.

                               _________________
 
   THESE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED BY THE SECURITIES
        AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OR ANY STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION NOR
            HAS THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OR ANY STATE
               SECURITIES COMMISSION PASSED UPON THE ACCURACY OR
                ADEQUACY OF THIS PROSPECTUS. ANY REPRESENTATION
                    TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE.
                               _________________


     No person has been authorized to give any information or to make any
representations other than those contained in this Prospectus in connection with
the offer contained herein, and, if given or made, such information or
representations must not be relied upon as having been authorized by the
Company. This Prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation
of an offer to buy, any securities offered hereby in any jurisdiction in which
it is not lawful or to any person to whom it is not lawful to make any such
offer or solicitation. Neither the delivery of this Prospectus nor any sale made
hereunder shall, under any circumstances, create any implication that
information herein is correct as of any time subsequent to the date hereof.

                The date of this Prospectus is March 10, 1997.

 
                             AVAILABLE INFORMATION

     The Company is subject to the informational requirements of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), and in accordance
therewith files reports, proxy statements and other information with the
Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission"). Such reports, proxy
statements and other information filed by the Company can be inspected and
copied at the public reference facilities of the Commission at 450 Fifth Street,
N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549, and at the Commission's regional offices at 7
World Trade Center, Suite 1300, New York, New York 10048 and CitiCorp Center,
500 West Madison Street, Suite 1400, Chicago, Illinois 60661. Copies of such
materials can be obtained from the Public Reference Section of the Commission at
450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549, at prescribed rates. The
Commission also maintains a World Wide Web site which provides on-line access to
registration statements, reports, proxy and information statements and other
information regarding registrants that file electronically with the Commission
at the address "http://www.sec.gov." This Prospectus does not contain all the
information set forth in the Registration Statement and exhibits thereto which
the Company has filed with the Commission under the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended (the "Securities Act"), and to which reference is hereby made.

                INCORPORATION OF CERTAIN DOCUMENTS BY REFERENCE

     The following documents of the Company which have been filed with the
Commission are hereby incorporated by reference in this Prospectus:

     (a) the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 2, 1996;

     (b) the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 1, 1996;

     (c) the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 
         August 31, 1996;

     (d) the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 
         November 30, 1996;

     (e) the Current Report on Form 8-K dated October 31, 1996;

     (f) the Current Report on Form 8-K dated January 13, 1997; and

     (g) the description of the Company's Common Stock contained in the
         Company's Registration Statement filed pursuant to Section 12 of the
         Exchange Act and any amendment or report filed for the purpose of
         updating any such description.

     All documents filed by the Company pursuant to Section 13(a), 13(c), 14 or
15(d) of the Exchange Act subsequent to the date of this Prospectus and prior to
the termination of the offering of the Common Stock shall be deemed to be
incorporated by reference into this Prospectus and to be a part hereof from the
respective dates of filing of such documents. Any statement contained herein or
in a document all or part of which is incorporated or deemed to be incorporated
by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of
this Prospectus to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any
subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by
reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so
modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded,
to constitute a part of this Prospectus.

     The Company will provide without charge to any person to whom this
Prospectus is delivered, upon the written or oral request of such person, a copy
of any or all of the foregoing documents incorporated herein by reference (other
than certain exhibits to such documents). Requests for such copies should be
directed to the Company, 7900 Xerxes Avenue South, Suite 1800, Minneapolis,
Minnesota 55431-1159, Attention: Corporate Secretary. Telephone requests may be
directed to the Corporate Secretary at (612) 835-1874.

                                      -2-

 
                           APOGEE ENTERPRISES, INC.

GENERAL

     Apogee Enterprises, Inc. is a holding company primarily engaged, through
its operating subsidiaries, in the fabrication, distribution and installation of
value-added glass products and window and curtainwall systems. Almost two-thirds
of the Company's revenues are generated from the nonresidential construction
market, with the other one-third coming from operations serving the auto glass
market. Three business segments comprise Apogee's operations: Building Products
& Services (BPS) serves certain sectors of the commercial and institutional,
detention and security building markets, Glass Technologies (GT) serves the
construction and imaging and display markets, and Automotive Glass (AG) serves
the automotive glass repair and replacement market.

Building Products & Services

     The Company's Building Products & Services segment operates principally in
the design, engineering and installation of custom and standard curtainwall and
window systems for commercial and institutional, as well as specialized and
detention and security, building products and services. BPS's operating units
include detention and security companies, full service glazing units, a global
new construction curtainwall contractor and metal fabricating and finishing
businesses.

Glass Technologies

     The businesses of the Glass Technologies segment add value to ordinary
glass through fabrication of complex coated glass products which provide
strength, energy efficiency in high-rise structures and optical clarity for
mirrors, glare filter screens and picture frame glass. The operating units in
this segment include the Viracon architectural glass unit, the Tru Vue picture
framing glass unit and the two coating units, Marcon Coatings (Marcon) and
Viratec Thin Films (Viratec).

     Viracon fabricates finished glass products and provides glass coating
services, primarily under the "Viracon" and "Marcon Coatings" names. These
operating units purchase flat, unprocessed glass in bulk quantities from which a
variety of glass products are fabricated, including insulating, tempered and
laminated architectural glass, security glass and laminated industrial glass.

Automotive Glass

     The Automotive Glass segment is engaged in the automotive replacement glass
business through the Harmon Glass service centers (retail), Glass Depot
wholesale distribution centers (wholesale) and Curvlite fabrication center.

     The Company was incorporated under the laws of the State of Minnesota in
1949. The Company's principal offices are located at 7900 Xerxes Avenue South,
Suite 1800, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55431-1159 and its telephone number at that
address is (612) 835-1874. For further information concerning the Company, see
the documents incorporated by reference herein as described under "Incorporation
of Certain Documents by Reference."

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

     On January 3, 1997, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary,
Harmon Glass Company, completed the acquisition of American Management Group
("AMG") for $9.1 million of Apogee Common Stock. AMG, which does business under
the name Portland Glass, is based in Portland, Maine and operates 46 retail auto
glass shops in Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire and Vermont.


                                      -3-

 
                                USE OF PROCEEDS

     The Shares will be offered and sold by the Selling Shareholder for its own
account. The Company will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the Shares
pursuant to this Prospectus. The Company has agreed to pay the expenses of
registration of the Shares, including the first $10,000 of legal fees of the
Selling Shareholder.

                              SELLING SHAREHOLDER

     The maximum number of Shares that may be sold by the Selling Shareholder
pursuant to this Prospectus is 430,242. The Selling Shareholder beneficially
owned no other shares of the Company's Common Stock as of March 10, 1997.

     The Selling Shareholder is the sole former shareholder of AMG. The Selling
Shareholder acquired the Shares in connection with Apogee's acquisition of AMG
on January 3, 1997. Pursuant to the AMG acquisition, Apogee acquired all of the
issued and outstanding shares of common stock of AMG in exchange for the Shares.

                             PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION

     The Selling Shareholder may offer and sell the Shares from time to time in
transactions on the NASDAQ National Market, in brokerage transactions at
prevailing market prices or in transactions at negotiated prices. Sales may be
made to or through brokers or dealers who may receive compensation in the form
of discounts, concessions or commissions from the Selling Shareholder or the
purchasers of Shares for whom such brokers or dealers may act as agent or to
whom they may sell as principal, or both. As of the date of this Prospectus, the
Company is not aware of any agreement, arrangement or understanding between any
broker or dealer and the Selling Shareholder.

     The Selling Shareholder and any brokers or dealers acting in connection
with the sale of the Shares hereunder may be deemed to be "underwriters" within
the meaning of Section 2(11) of the Securities Act, and any commissions received
by them and any profit realized by them on the resale of Shares as principals
may be deemed underwriting compensation under the Securities Act.

                                    EXPERTS

     The consolidated financial statements as of March 2, 1996 and February 25,
1995 and for each of the years in the three-year period ended March 2, 1996
incorporated by reference in this Prospectus and elsewhere in the Registration
Statement have been audited by KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, independent auditors, as
set forth in their report thereon incorporated herein by reference. Such
consolidated financial statements are incorporated herein by reference in
reliance upon such report given upon the authority of such firm as experts in
accounting and auditing.

                                 LEGAL MATTERS

     The validity of the Shares offered hereby has been passed upon for the
Company by Dorsey & Whitney LLP, 220 South Sixth Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota
55402.

                                      -4-


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     No dealer, salesperson or any other person has been authorized to give any
information or to make any representations other than those contained in this
Prospectus, and, if given or made, such information or representations must not
be relied upon as having been authorized by the Company, any Selling Shareholder
or any other person. This Prospectus does not constitute an offer to sell or a
solicitation of an offer to buy to any person in any jurisdiction in which such
offer or solicitation would be unlawful or to any person to whom it is unlawful.
Neither the delivery of this Prospectus nor any offer or sale made hereunder
shall, under any circumstances, create any implication that there has been no
change in the affairs of the Company or that the information contained herein is
correct as of any time subsequent to the date hereof.


                               TABLE OF CONTENTS

                                                                            Page
                                                                            ----

Available Information......................................................   2
Incorporation of Certain Documents By Reference............................   2
Apogee Enterprises, Inc....................................................   3
Use of Proceeds............................................................   4
Selling Shareholder........................................................   4
Plan of Distribution.......................................................   4
Experts....................................................................   4
Legal Matters..............................................................   4

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                                430,242 Shares



                           APOGEE ENTERPRISES, INC.



                                 Common Stock



                                 _____________

                                  PROSPECTUS
                                 _____________





                                March 10, 1997

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