Louie's Superette, Mather House Favorite Liquor Shop, to Reopen

When Louie's Superette reopens at the end of the week, Dunster and Mather students will not longer have to trek to the Square for last night snacks.

But underage students all over Harvard will be disappointed that their one-time source for easy alcohol may have dried up--thanks to the city of Cambridge.

Louie's closed its doors because of a fire last July--months after the Cambridge License Commission penalized the store for selling alcohol to underage buyers in February.

The city nabbed Louie's and 14 other stores through a successful "sting" operation and subsequently suspended its liquor license for a day.

Because of last year's suspension, Louie's owner Cheng-San Chen says that when the store reopens, there will be a stricter policy for underage liquor buyers flocking to his doors.

Chen, who says he is still unsure that his store sold to underage buyers, does not want to be targeted again by the License Commission.

"I would try to avoid that kind of situation," Chen says.

One of the biggest problems in monitoring the sale of alcohol to underage buyers, Chen says, is that customers sometimes get angry when he refuses to sell them liquor or when he asks for their IDs.

"We have to tell them 'no, no,'" Chen says. "[But] we have to be nice to them no matter what."

But students, especially residents of the two Houses closest to Louie's still see the store as a good source for alcohol.

"We've been having to walk to get a beer," says Scott G. Kolar '94, a Mather resident.

Kolar says that in his "pre-21 days" Harvard police confiscated his fake IDs on three occasions after he bought liquor at Louie's.

According to Kolar, every few months last year the Harvard police would wait behind Mather House for students to walk out of Louie's with alcohol and then check their IDS.

Mather resident Dwight A. Wyatt '95 says all House consumers will benefit from Louie's reopening, which he calls "one small step for Louie's and one giant leap for Mather House."

Other faithful Louie's customers are satisfied merely to have their nearest convenience store reopen.

"I'm looking forward to it because it's going to be a lot more convenient than trekking up to Christy's," says Allen C. Soong '96 of Dunster House.

"You just have to walk down the street rather than heading back into the Square," Dunster resident Christina V. Karnakis '95 says.

Consumers with a Harvard affiliation--faculty, staff and students--make up about 80 percent of Louie's customers, Chen says.

"I think it's important to serve the Harvard community," Chen says.

Although the internal layout of the store has changed somewhat, the prices, especially of beer and wine, will be the same as before the fire.

The cause for last summer's fire, which destroyed one third of Louie's, is still uncertain, Chen says.

"I tried to contact them [the Cambridge fire department] several times, but they didn't get back to me," Chen says.

Chen says he plans to add some new features to serve his customers, including a copy machine and a fax. Copies will cost five cents.

Chen has been the Louie's owner for six and a half years. The real "Louie," Louie Palucci, sold the business twelve years ago.

Chen says he is extremely grateful to the Harvard community for its support and patronage over the years.