History of Whitley Furniture Galleries

The History of Whitley Furniture Galleries (Zebulon Supply Company)

By MaryBeth Carpenter

Whitley Furniture Galleries began as the Zebulon Supply Company, organized by R.J. Whitley, F.E. Bunn, H.R. Hales and A.V. Bobbitt in 1909. ¹ R. J. Whitley was the largest stockholder and president. This business operated as a farm supply store which carried heavy and fancy groceries, hardware, feed, farming implements, fertilizer and also had cotton buyers. ²

In 1916, R.J.’s son Colon Vaiden Whitley joined the firm as a cotton buyer and salesman. The two-story brick and concrete building which is present today was erected in 1919. The lower floor carried a large supply of clothing, shoes and general merchandise. On the second floor customers found furniture and stoves.

R.J. Whitley died in 1924, and his son Colon Vaiden Whitley became President and General Manager and had six employees, including a furniture salesman and he employed two people running the undertaker business beginning in 1930. ³ In 1932 this second floor store became known as Whitley Furniture Inc. and the farm supply business on the first floor retained the name of Zebulon Supply Co.

The general store carried furniture, farming supplies, and heavy and fancy livestock feeds, including bran, dairy and chicken feed. In a warehouse across the street on Vance were stocks of one and two horse wagons and farming implements through the 1940s.

In 1935, Zebulon Supply Company sponsored Zebulon’s second annual “Good Will” event for customers which drew 8,000 people to the Town for awards ranging from a new Buick Sedan, to a living room suite, to linoleum rugs for the kitchen floor, to a ton of fertilizer. The town of 1,000 people had to add extra security to its two-man police force and saw so many cars that there was barely space to park them all.⁴

In 1959, C.V. Whitley sold the burial and embalming service to Norman Screws and Crafton Hudson, ⁵who continued to operate out of the second floor of the Zebulon Supply Company space until the mid-1960s, when they moved the operation to their own building.

In April 1963, Whitley Furniture expanded its space by 4,000 square feet and changed its name to Whitley Furniture Galleries. Its opening event, which drew 500 people, featured an elliptical-shaped artificial pool at the gallery entrance with water flowing from a dolphin’s mouth into a pool, enhanced with artificial plant life. Curved masonry steps on each side of the pool led into the gallery, with a balustrade of white pine painted with nature and white antique finish. ⁶ The event featured the latest designs of the day including “partitions and walls painted antique white and black. For accents, touches of burnt orange, gold, apple green and russet colors were used.” The new gallery was downstairs, while the two other furniture gallery spaces remained upstairs.

In 1959, C.V. Whitley’s daughter, Nancy, and her husband Amos Estes began to run the business, and became full owners upon the death of Nancy’s father, C.V Whitley, in 1966. Nancy and Amos Estes ran the business until they retired in 1993. Their children, Charles Whitley Estes and Nelle Carroll are the current owners and managers.

From the 1960s through the 1990s, the store expanded to additional buildings along Vance Street as it opened more “galleries” of furniture space to its customers. Today the store is known as the state’s only furniture store occupying an entire city block. It also carries the largest selection of American made furniture in the Triangle. Some famous brands carried include Smith Brothers, Gat Creek, Bradington – Young, Hooker, Universal, Bassett, Emerald Craft, Howard Miller, Alder & Tweed, Barcalounger, Dovetail and many others.

When the store closes in May, its 65,000 square feet of space among multiple buildings on Vance Street will be empty, waiting for a new owner and new usage. But the memory of the Whitley Furniture Galleries, the Zebulon Supply Company and the contributions of its staff and four generations of family ownership will remain in the fabric of this Town’s character for years to come.

Sources

1 – Zebulon Record – Aug. 25, 1933

2 – Letter from Martha-Anne Bennett, 1998, Whitley family member

3 – Zebulon Record Aug. 25, 1933

4 – Zebulon Record, Jan 11, 1935

5 – Zebulon Record – June 5, 1959

6 – Zebulon Record, April 26, 1963