Alexis Rector, left, and Karen Flores serve customers a variety of coffee and non-coffee drinks at Cafe 506 in The Warehouse at 506 N. Breazeale Ave. in Mount Olive.(Lester Rector|Courtesy photo)
Activities like cornhole and paintball are accommodated in the 1300 square feet of outdoor space behind The Warehouse in Mount Olive.(Lester Rector|Courtesy photo)
Up for a game of pool? There’s a table located next to Cafe 506 in The Warehouse.(Lester Rector|Courtesy photo)
Cafe 506, in The Warehouse, offers a nice selection of coffee and non-coffee drinks.(Lester Rector|Courtesy photo)
Soft-serve vanilla, chocolate and swirl are served at an ice cream stand in The Warehouse.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Tucked behind The Warehouse, at 506 N. Breazeale Ave. in Mount Olive, is a paintball course.(Lester Rector|Courtesy photo)
A charging station in The Warehouse encourages re-charging one’s devices…and oneself.(Lester Rector|Courtesy photo)
Inside The Warehouse, there’s plenty of comfy seating for anyone wanting to relax with a cup o’ joe.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Inspiration for The Warehouse comes from John 5:6, when Jesus asks the man at the Bethesda pool, ‘Do you want to be well?’ according to owner Lester Rector.(Lester Rector|Courtesy photo)
The Warehouse is located at 506 N. Breazeale Ave. in Mount Olive.(Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
The Warehouse aspires to be ‘a hangout like no other.’(Kathy Grant Westbrook|Courtesy photo)
Lester and Holly Rector, owners of The Warehouse (Lester Rector|Courtesy photo)
Some people like to play pool. For others, paintball is their game of choice. And then you’ve got folks who have no interest in either, all they want is a good cup o’ joe. All these folks can have their needs met at one place: The Warehouse, at 506 N. Breazeale Ave. in Mount Olive.
“Our goal, our desire, was to build something that we felt like would meet a need in the community, a place to go, a place to hang out,” says Lester Rector of the business he and wife Holly opened last September.
At first glance, The Warehouse appears as a modest, gray-sided, white-trimmed building, very neat-looking, but small. That is, until you look closer and see that a large metal building is attached at the back, creating 3500 square feet of indoor space, featuring Café 506 coffee bar, a soft-serve ice cream stand, a pool table, several tables and chairs, comfy couches, three big-screen TVs, a station where folks can sit and plug in their devices, and — if all goes according to plan — as of this fall, a station that will serve New York-style bagels and spreads. Then, of course, there’s the 1300 square feet of outdoor space, with opportunities for playing cornhole, paintball and the like.
The Rectors moved to the area from Orlando, Fla., in 2019, to work in Campus Ministry and Outreach at the University of Mount Olive. Coming from an urban area, Lester says, “where there was something [to do] everywhere all the time,” they saw a need for a hang-out spot in Mount Olive, and they had a vested interest in creating a fun, safe, nurturing place, given the fact that their own kids — Alexis, 19; Aliya,17; and Alana, 8 — would be spending plenty of time there.
Both Lester and Holly are ordained ministers (through the nondenominational International Congress of Churches & Ministers), and their guiding vision for the new enterprise was a verse from the Bible — John: 5:6 (which they deemed especially fitting since 506 is their address on Breazeale Ave.). “It’s the ‘why’ behind us doing this,” Lester explains. “It’s the question Jesus asked the man at the pool at Bethesda, ‘Do you want to be well?’”
He describes the venture as a “re-think” church model, in that “there’s no message, no worship, nothing like that going on in here necessarily, [although] we have those moments. But what we really wanted was for people to come into the building and feel like this is a safe place.” As such, if it’s a place where people can come and feel loved and accepted and safe, “is it any less church?” Lester asks. He admits that it’s a concept that has some people scratching their heads trying to figure out exactly how to define it. For coffee connoisseurs, it’s a coffee shop. For paintball enthusiasts, it’s a place to play. For UMO students, it’s a cool place to hang out. It’s all of those things to all of those people.
Lester describes The Warehouse’s clientele as “super-diverse,” and gestures toward the different areas of the interior as he says, “My favorite days when I’m in the building are the days when I’m seeing kids over here playing pool, and then there’s a group of middle-age women over here doing a book club, and then over here on the couch, there’s two older women who are just chatting it up and just hanging out and they’re laughing. And then I see a guy over here who’s…got his laptop plugged in and he’s working. And I’m like, man, this is like everybody right here. This is what I love. This is community.”
The Rectors do rent out the space for private events, and they also offer several Warehouse-sponsored events throughout the year, usually for special occasions like graduation, Halloween and Christmas. The outdoor paintball area can be rented separately (starting this fall), so that parties can have that entire space to themselves, playing paintball, grilling, and just hanging out.
What’s currently happening at The Warehouse is Phase 1 of a three-phase mission, Lester notes. In Phase II, he says, they hope to develop counseling programs to help people with mental, spiritual, and emotional wellness, and to address health and nutrition. As for Phase III, “We may launch a church. We don’t know.”
Right now, though, the focus is on living up to the words on the sign in front of The Warehouse: to be “a hangout like no other.”
The Warehouse is open Monday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sunday, 3 p.m.-8 p.m. For more information, call 919-299-4105.
