Meet Aaron Hennequin and Victoria Holts | Honkytonk Owners

We had the good fortune of connecting with Aaron Hennequin and Victoria Holts and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Aaron and Victoria, how did you come up with the idea for your business?
When Aaron retired from the Army, we decided to start something new together. We enjoy country dancing and honkytonks, but the closest one one was over an hour away. This meant spending the night out of town and spending more money each date night in travel, taxis, hotels, and restaurants. We decided to bring a Honkytonk closer to home. If we were doing others were too (or they would come out locally).

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Doc’s Watering Hole has the largest dance floor within an hours drive. We cater to both types of music, Country and Western (although we have introduced ticketed events on the occasional Monday, which have included an 80’s theme night and a Drag show). We have had numerous parties and events to celebrate holidays, ranging from Halloween and New Years Eve events to a dancefloor rodeo with a mechanical bull. Our establishment welcomes all walks of life and has become a mixing pot for all to enjoy.

Our largest hurdle was the renovations. We bought the building on 1 february and immediately started renovating, providing sweat equity where we could. Against most naysayers comments we were able to stay on top of the project and stay on track to open just 6 months after we bought the building. Doc’s opened August 5th, 2022.

We’ve discovered along the way that not everyone has the same work ethic, but we need to support and rely on those that do. And , despite the popular phrase “the customer is always right” we have found that we cant please everyone, but we do our best.

Doc’s Watering Hole is veteran owned (both owners served in the Army) and is dedicated to small town growth and prosperity. We support as many local charities as a small business can and often partner with other veteran owned businesses to help promote them as well. We like to think that we dont have any competitors, rather if we each succeed we all succeed. So long as we are better today than we were yesterday we will be fine.

Doc’s is a pround member of the Warrior Healing Center’s Veteran Owned Business Network, and the Sierra Vista Chamber of Commerce.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Day 1 – Tombstone, Az – be sure to visit the shootout at the OK Corral, visit the birdcage, take the stage coach tour, visit the largest Rose tree in the world and grab a meal at Big Nose Kate’s

Day 2 – hit the trails and explore the san pedro house or coronado National Mounument to catch a glimpse of the wildlife

Day 3 – be sure to make your reservations for a cave tour at Kartchner Caverns.

Day 4 – Bisbee – take a stroll through old Bisbee and see the heritage of the County seat in its museums and shops, be sure to check out the Lavender Copper mine and neighboring Lowell, AZ. Dont forget to visit the copper queen mine.

Day 5 – catch a play at the K Palace Theater in Huachca City, and visit Fort Huachuca’s museum

Day 6 – head over to Elgin and Sonoita for wine tasting at the wineries (and breweries)…the wood fired pizza at Dos Cabezas is excellent!

Day 7 – do some rock and mineral hounding with some guided tours, or go explore the various Ghost Towns scattered along the San Pedro River.

And of course you can stay across the street from us at the Holiday inn and end you days at Doc’s for dinner, drinks, and dancing

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We want to offer a huge thanks to the Department of Defense’s Transition Assistant Program, the Veteran Business Outreach Center, and the Cochise County Small Business Development Center. We were exposed to the steps of opening a business through their Boots to Business course.

Specifically we want to thank Dianna Cameron, who at the time was the VBOC representative and later, just as we needed her, became a vital link between us and the city with her new position in economic development department.

Finally, we would not be where we are today without the mentoring and assistance from Mark Schmidt, the director of the Cochise County Small Business Development Center. Mark was there to ensure we had the network we needed and that our plan was solid and covered all the bases we would need to address.

And of course we owe a huge part of our success to our family, we found the drive and motivation to pursue our dream through thier support and encouragement.

Website: Www.docswateringhole.com

Instagram: @docswateringhole

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goodforwhatalesya?mibextid=ZbWKwL