Onstage Music Open at New Location

Onstage Music has moved to a new venue.

The locally owned music shop opened its doors at its new location in the Wood Trail Shopping Plaza on Old County Road 54 last month.

Sandra Farrell is owner of Onstage Music and says the store is the only woman-owned music store in the Tampa Bay area. Her husband Bill manages the business.

The store buys, sells and trades new and used instruments. It also performs repairs on instruments and is authorized to repair school band instruments in Pasco and Pinellas counties, says its owner. It also hosts music lessons.

Onstage is celebrating its 10^th anniversary in business next month. Farrell opened Onstage in 2002. Its first location was on Grand Boulevard. It then moved on to Main Street and then onto U.S. 19.

Its most recent location before its move was U.S. 19 in New Port Richey, which was problematic. The building the business occupied was in need of repairs. Farrell had concerns about the environment on 19, where homelessness is very clearly visible and their business neighbors changed frequently, she said.

The area is reflecting the state of the economy in general, Farrell noted. The conditions there were taking a toll on Farrell to the point she didn’t wantto  come into work, she said.

“U.S. 19 was getting very bad,” Farrell said.

Onstage’s lease for space was up in September, and the choice before the business owner was clear: Move or retire.

Farrell looked for a new location. Everyone suggested going to Trinity, she said. She found the new location at Old County Road 54 in not-quite-Trinity-not-quite-New Port-Richey, right near popular Sugar Darlings Cones-n-Cupcakes.  

The store has expanded its services. In its previous location, it repaired guitars,  and amplifiers but contrracted out woodwind and brass repairs. It now does brass and woodwind repairs in-house.  It also has additional rooms for teachers to rent. It has more space, in general.

Onstage Music has been active in the community. When Judy DeBella Thomas was head of Greater New Port Richey Main Street, the business worked with her to bring music downtown during the organization’s special events.

Farrell is rolling out a new program aimed at giving students who don’t have opportunities to learn to play music. It’s called the “Leave No Child Behind Music Program.”

Farrell plans to ask school teachers to pass out forms asking students what instruments they want to play and what has stopped them from doing so. Students will return the forms, and Farrell will select a child to participate in the program every three or four months.

Onstage will loan the student an instrument for four weeks, and the student will be given free lessons those four weeks. Onstage and an instructor will donate time to help out the students.

Farrell, who lives in Hudson with Bill, wants the store to grow but wants it to keep the advantages of being a small business and the feeling of being family run. One of those is great customer service provided by Bill. The other is that they repair and service instruments in-store, she said.

Farrell calls her store a "Grammmy and Grampy" business. She believes people should work as long as they are useful. In Pasco, Onstage is useful.

"We still got a little bit to give," said Farrell.

Want to see what onstage music has to offer? Pay a visit to 8501 Old County Road 54 or call 727-849-7998. Hours:  Mon-Fri, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat,11 a.m.-5 p.m., Sun, closed.

*Article updated