Glebe Radio and Appliance

Glebe Radio and Appliance opened its doors in Arlington in 1946. It moved to its current location on Langston Boulevard in 1964 when founder Joseph Harvey Wharton bought the newly built building complex where the business now sits. Joseph took in his half-brother, Dabney Wharton, in 1959 after the loss of his mother. Dabney started working at Glebe Radio and Appliance in the early 1960s, delivering appliances to many of the local families that he still serves. After going to high school in Arlington and starting college, Dabney was drafted into the Army on the second to last day of the Vietnam draft. He served two years and returned to the business, knowing that he owed his half-brother a great deal for helping him through tough times.  Joseph then moved Dabney into sales where he remembered initially being very nervous about selling to customers. Dabney quickly learned through Joseph that you just needed to be honest, build a relationship, and help the customers make the right decisions. If you could do that, they would probably return again and again. Dabney Wharton took the helm of Glebe Radio and Appliance in 1983 and has been running the business continuously since. Though he sold the building complex in 2020 and the business in 2023, Dabney continues to run the day-to-day operations because he values the community relationships he has built and knows that honesty and friendly service are the keys to the business’s success. People come to his store over the big box stores because they know he will shoot them straight, help them meet their appliance needs, install them correctly, and stand behind their work.