Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan and John O’Leary.
Hi Susan and John, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
Our Sacred Store became Wadsworth Music in 1995. My husband John and I rescued the store from closing in the Summer of 2002. John was a painting contractor by day and a guitar teacher at Wadsworth Music in the evenings. One evening the previous owner of the store approached John and told him that he was planning to close the store unless he could find a buyer soon. John came home that evening, and we discussed becoming the new owners of Wadsworth Music. We knew the store had potential, and since the company I worked for at the time was about to go through a major upheaval, we decided to purchase the store. I had much retail management experience, and John’s musical knowledge was extensive. He loved teaching lessons at the store, and I knew I could make it look nice and inviting. So, we jumped in with both feet and a month later, we became the new owners.
The store was nearly empty of inventory at this time, but the lesson program was decent, and provided a steady amount of cash flow. I got busy listening to customers and slowly furnished the store with inventory entirely from customer requests. When a customer asked for something, I would purchase two of them.
The next big task was expanding the lesson program. We built and furnished more lesson rooms in the store, hired more music instructors, and the lesson roster increased exponentially. It took a lot of back-breaking work, worry, and investment in building materials and advertising. We both worked the store 6 days a week from open to close: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm. Our son, Scott, also worked for us while he went to high school and college. At the same time, John went back to college and finished earning his degree in Business Administration. Yes. I had to work the store alone for several hours on most days, but it all worked out. I hired a few part-time employees to work with me during these years, which helped me immensely.
In 2014, we took another leap and invested in Fender Guitars and a few other good lines of instruments. John, who is also a guitar technician, quickly became an authorized Fender repair technician, as well as a silver-certified Taylor Guitar warranty repair tech. Needless to say, our guitar repair business is booming. John also re-constructed our website to sell merchandise online during this time. www.wasdworthmusic.com.
We have faced many economic, social, health, and financial issues through all of these 22 years, but keeping our store smaller has kept us flexible and able to change our course as necessary. 2008-2010 were rough years, as well as 2020, when the world almost closed down. Exciting but crazy years.
My favorite part of owning Wadsworth Music has been the pleasure of working together with my husband every day. We have great stories and sweet memories of interesting personalities who regularly enter our store. We have watched many long-time music students grow from first grade to graduation. Many of our 14 music teachers have been with us for 12+ years. Two of them have even been with us for all of our 22 years. Steve, our sales manager, has become a blessing to us. He is a former marine who always surprises us with the unique ideas he comes up with. Brianna, our lesson coordinator, does an excellent job managing students and everyday tasks, as well as keeping an eye on our creative sales manager (LOL)
The building that is our store’s home in Historic Downtown Wadsworth was built in 1924. Each and every business that has resided here through the years has been locally owned and operated. It was built with materials from Wadsworth Brick Company and locally milled hard pines. We are very grateful to reside in this historical building and are thankful to the citizens of Wadsworth and surrounding communities for their support. We truly have a Blessed and Sacred Store!
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Our journey as Wadsworth Music has been quite challenging. Luckily, decisions we made kept us flexible enough to adapt to continuous changes in the economy, competitors moving into and then out of town, and, of course, the COVID years! Our lesson program was completely shut down for half of this year. We are still working on rebuilding it. This year should bring us back to our goal, though.
We’ve been impressed with Wadsworth Music, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
At Wadsworth Music, our specialties are music lessons, instrument sales, instrument repairs, and band and orchestra rentals. With 14 music teachers on staff, we offer lessons in guitar, bass, piano, drums, violin, voice, banjo, ukulele, brass horns, and woodwinds.
We are a dealer for Fender guitars/amplifiers/accessories. Our selection is very large for an independent store. We also carry Gretsch and Charvel guitars, as well as some used equipment. The instruments we have in our showroom are set up and ready to play.
Customers purchase instrument accessories such as strings, tuners, cables, effects pedals, reeds, instrument care kits, music stands, drumsticks, method books, harmonicas, Roland digital pianos, and other accessories.
We repair stringed instruments in here in the store, and we have a band instrument repair technician who picks up band instruments weekly for repair.
We have a great band and orchestral rental program here at our store, as we are an affiliate of Sweetwater for instrument rentals and sales. Customers may rent here at our store or from our website. The quality of our rental instruments, as well as our prices are the best around.
We are most proud of the large assortment of instruments we have in stock, as well as our excellent repair center.
Students have a great time coming to our friendly store for music lessons, and we are very proud of our lesson program.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
The selection of Fender, Gretsch, and Charvel guitars we have in stock here in our store is very large, considering we are in a small town. Customers tell us that we’re “the best-kept secret!”
Our customers are also impressed by the vast amount of music lesson rooms we have here in our store, as well as the variety of instruments our music teachers provide. Our lesson roster here is massive, although there is always room for more students.
Pricing:
- Our prices are the same as what you will find online.
- Lessons are $25 per half hour, payable by the month.
- Spa Day for you guitar is $45, plus the cost of strings
Contact Info:
- Website: www.wadsworthmusic.com
- Instagram: Instagram.com/wadsworth_music
- Facebook: Facebook.com/wadsworthmusic
