As you walk into the front room of Open Door Cigars, you’re greeted by a professional attendant eager to answer any questions you may have about the lines of cigars surrounding you. Whether you're a regular or a new customer interested in enjoying a cigar—or, in this case, a writer fortunate to have a meeting with Brian Waters—you’ll be led through a secret door disguised as a bookshelf and into a dimly lit, inviting, upscale lounge fully equipped with leather chairs, tables, and a classy bar.
Brian Waters joined the Fayetteville Police Department after college in 1986. “I grew up playing cops and robbers,” he says. “I just never quit.” After working in law enforcement for 28 years, Brian felt a vocational change. “I told [my wife], ‘I feel like God’s called us to open a cigar shop.’ Without hesitation, she said, ‘I wondered what was taking you so long.’” Brian and his wife, Sharon, spent the rest of 2013 and 2014 getting the shop open while Brian transitioned from the Police Department to Open Door Cigars full-time for eight months. In August 2015, Open Door Cigars moved into their current building off of E Rolling Hills Drive.
“The more I prayed about it,” says Brian, “the less peace I came to about staying on the [police] job. I never left because I wanted to leave police work. My intention originally was to have a small retail.” Since 2015, Open Door Cigars has become a notable oasis for what Brian has coined a ‘Third Place,’ welcoming members of the community to come in, escape the routine of life, and enjoy one another’s company. Brian says, “Everybody needs a third place. We all have work. We all have home… We all need a third place. A place we can go, and it’s just yours… A place to go where you can actually engage with people… They’re really few and far between.
“Our mission is to open the door, get out of the Holy Spirit’s way, and just love people where they’re at,” says Brian. “I’ve been smoking cigars for a long time. One of the things I love about cigars is that they’re the great equalizer. They break socioeconomic lines and social lines. I love cigars, but this [cigar] is going to end up in an ashtray when I’m done. The value is [the conversation]. This provides the ability for everybody to drop their political leanings or their overly opinionated selves on a certain topic and just be human.”
Cigars are the catalysts for the community that they create. “If we provide better service and better hospitality than society provides most of us,” says Brian, “then that allows us to develop a relationship with people. If we have a relationship with people, this will be a destination.”
Open Door Cigars provides a level of community in which people can show up, meet others, and engage—an occurrence much less common in today’s day and age of technological advancements. “Everything in the world has become transactional,” says Brian. “There’s nothing wrong with that… Who we are is service, hospitality, relationship, and destination. We’re about the people. That’s why our mission statement is to just quit judging people and love them where they are.”
Brian emphasizes the value that intention serves in running a successful business. Of course, selling the product is essential, but building relationships truly builds a business. “Service is what you do for someone,” says Brian. “Hospitality is how you make them feel. I don’t want you to walk in and feel like you’re in my business. I want you to walk in and feel like you’re in your living room. I don’t really sell cigars. I sell environment and experience because I care about people… This place allows us an avenue to meet people I would have never had the opportunity to meet… Had I not felt like God had called us to do this, I probably still would be at [the police department].”
Though Brian felt the need for a change in his life, he didn’t fully expect a cigar shop to be the answer. However, he and Sharon had a call to serve others. “Nobody was more surprised than this ole’ Southern Baptist to feel like God had called him to open a cigar shop,” says Brian, “but it has been one of the greatest joys, and it’s still going on. We’re about to celebrate our 10th anniversary. Also, my wife does not own 50% of this place. My wife owns 100% of it, and I own 100% of it. This is us, not me. Without her, this place doesn’t exist.” To this day, every Thursday at 7 PM, Sharon cooks dinner for upwards of 75 people. “It has nothing to do with business,” says Brian. “We were doing this at my house in my garage before we ever had a cigar shop… There’s no agenda to it other than to do life with guys. It’s experiential. It’s real. It’s relational.”
Open Door Cigars also has strong ties to the Fayetteville community. Brian says, “It’s all about community. We’ve chosen a number of different touch points in the community to get involved in,” like the Ronald McDonald Charitable Foundation and several small businesses. “You can’t help enough other people to ever hurt yourself. I want to sell an experience, not a product. I have to sell cigars; that pays the bills. But in reality, people aren’t paying for the cigar; they’re paying for the experience. There are a lot of businesses that are very community-oriented… The better we build community, the more money will follow… As long as that trust is authentic and intact, it’s super hard for another business to take that business from you. It’s always about relationship.”
Open Door Cigars welcomes people from all walks of life and encourages them to get to know one another. “You learn to recognize commonalities in what people do,” says Brian. “I just love the fact that we’re a small, local community. The more people I have in here, the better I like it. I get to do life with more people. It scratches a real itch for Sharon and me… One of the greatest compliments Sharron and I have ever gotten – and we’ve gotten it a number of times – is ‘I don’t feel like I’m in a business. I feel like I’m in someone’s living room.’ That’s what I want. I want you to feel at home.”
A business in and of itself has no morals, and Brian explains that whether that business exudes high, strong ethics and morals is based on the leadership team. Brian says, “It’s the leadership and the people that will give it positivity or negativity by the intention of how it’s used,” and it is apparent that Open Door Cigars holds true to such an idea.
Connect with Open Door Cigars here!
opendoorcigar.com
(479) 935-4420
Hours of operation:
Monday to Wednesday: 9 AM - 11 PM
Thursday to Saturday: 9 AM - 12 AM
Sunday: Closed
“Who we are is service, hospitality, relationship, and destination. We’re about the people. That’s why our mission statement is to just quit judging people and love them where they are.”
“I sell environment and experience because I care about people… This place allows us an avenue to meet people I would have never had the opportunity to meet.”