If you’re looking to get into retail and open a store, the first piece of advice you’ll get from any business consultant is, “Sell something everybody needs.” Well, nobody needs a cigar and nobody needs a guitar. So in theory our guests on this edition of Out to Lunch should be out of business. But far from it. One of them has a thriving music store, and the other has two super-successful cigar stores.
The reason they’ve defied common business logic is, both their stores transcend mere transactions. More than just a place to buy stuff, they’re both hubs of social interaction that create community.
Michael Austin, owner of Austin Music Company in Panama City Beach. “In our store it’s not uncommon for jam sessions to just erupt.”
Michael Austin is the owner of Austin Music Company, the only music store in Panama City. It’s right on the Parkway, just west of Pier Park, and pretty much any time of day or night you’ll find people of all ages taking music lessons. And by “all ages,” there are kids as young as 7 and folks well into their golden years from nearby Latitudes Margaritaville retirement community, learning everything you could imagine, including guitar, saxophone, trumpet banjo, bass, and more. And, of course, you can buy instruments there too.
Almost nothing says, “I’m relaxed, I’m happy, and I’m just gonna sit here and watch the world go by” like a guy lighting a cigar. That’s a generalization. But when it comes to actually smoking a cigar, that’s anything but one-size fits all. What a cigar tastes like, what it smells like, and what it feels like to smoke is highly personal.
Paul Copeland is the Co-Owner of two stores, both called Shore Thing Cigars, one in Gulf Shores Alabama and the flagship store here in Watersound.
Paul Copeland, Co-Owner, along with country music icon Luke Bryan, of Shore Thing Cigars in Gulf Shores Alabama and Watersound Florida. Paul attributes their nationwide popularity to exclusive cigar blends you can’t buy anywhere else and the 0% cigar sales tax in Florida
Paul’s partner in the business is his good buddy, music icon Luke Bryan. Luke loves cigars and is the inspiration for some of Shore Thing’s exclusive custom blends. But it’s Paul who has the cigar cred, going all the way back to working at Franklin Cigar in Tennessee, a store he got fired from and later bought. 15-plus years later, Paul has won awards like Tobacconist of the Year and he’s a three-time Davidoff Golden Band Award winner.
Paul Copeland checks out Michael Austin’s custom made guitar while Fletcher Isacks works on his Poke Bowl
We’re used to judging greatness by achievement – whether it’s wealth, strength, or winning. But there’s more to life than striving. The writer Clive James famously put it this way, “A society is not judged by the height of its ambitions but by the depths of its pleasures.”
One of the reasons people choose to live or spend time in this part of the world is because we have an appreciation of pleasure. Whether that pleasure is enjoying the natural beauty of our surroundings, enjoying listening to or playing music, or smoking a fine cigar.
Paul Copeland from Shore Thing Cigars and & Michael Austin from Austin Music Company didn’t know each other before meeting for lunch but if they release a joint album called Where Farm Meets Fire this is the record cover
Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Farm & Fire restaurant on Highway 331, overlooking Choctawhatchee Bay. Farm & Fire is one of Chef Jim Shirley’s family of fine restaurants. It’s open from 4pm, 6 days a week, and from 11am for brunch on Sundays,
