Louie’s: Where Everyone Knows Your Name
Serving up some spirit with your spirits and spicy conversation with your Doritos, the owner of Louie’s Superette–the local convenience store and go-to for many residents of the River Houses–has more in store than most casual shoppers might imagine.
Cheng-San Chen, known by his customers as Louie, has run Louie’s Superette since he purchased it from its previous owner in 1987. Located at the corner of Surrey and Putnam Streets, Louie’s attracts students seeking booze and carbs of all kinds.
“He’s got anything you’d ever want,” says Ian D. Duff ’10. “Louie’s the man.”
Doritos and Tostitos deck the aisles, and an entire section in the back is dedicated to wines alone. A bright orange sign advertises a new organic wine, imported from Italy. And it’s only $12.99.
“He always talks about how he keeps his prices on par with local stores,” says Thomas Rodger E. Rodger ’09.
Indeed, Chen insists that his motivations for running the store are not merely financial.
“It’s not about money,” he affirms. “I wouldn’t be working here if it was.”
LEARNED LOUIE
But that’s not the only thing that might surprise Chen’s customers. In fact, his unassuming demeanor belies his many hidden talents.
“I have too many degrees,” he jokes. “I’ve got a bachelors, a masters, and a Ph.D.”
His extensive background in engineering, physics, and mathematics led the store owner to work initially with technology. He was on the design team for Digital Equipment Corporation, where he worked with everything from application software and CPU to hardware. But his stint in the world of technology didn’t prove entirely satisfying for Chen, who yearned to connect with people.
“I talked more to machines than people back then,” he jests.
In an effort to merge his technological prowess with his desire for a more social work environment, Chen started teaching his knowledge by conducting computer classes.
“I mostly enjoy when people are smart and wanting to learn,” he said, explaining that this is one of the reasons he so enjoys being a store owner, with Mather and Dunster Houses neighboring his establishment. “I love talking with the students. I’m talking to the future leaders of the world.”
A SOCIAL STREAK
While Chen says that the store normally sees several hundred shoppers a day, he insists that he is nonetheless able to form relationships with individual customers.
“My former employees and customers- they come back years later and they ask: ‘Do you remember me?’ and I do. I remember their faces,” he says.
And so he does.
“What up, Lou?” asks a middle-aged man who walks in to purchase a six-pack and some gum one recent weekday evening.
Chen responds with a smile, calling the man by name and asking about his family and kids. One woman, who says she is from Taiwan and lives close by the store, stays to chat for over twenty minutes.
“I love getting to talk to many people,” says Chen. “It is my favorite part of the job.”
His propensity to engage with his customers and learn about their lives goes beyond casual conversation.
A couple of years ago, after Harvard’s football victory over Yale, Chen gave the team some free kegs to celebrate.
“The first thing the guys said after they won was ‘somebody go tell Louie!’” Chen recalls with a laugh. “I also gave them two cases of champagne.”
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
And luckily for students, and perhaps especially the football team, Chen plans on sticking around for a while.
“I tried to sell the store a few years back,” he said, “But the guy messed up. I let him borrow money from me and he never paid me back. And he didn’t check IDs as he should, and the students complained about him. So I came back. I don’t trust other people with the store now.”
But would he sell the store if he did find someone he deemed capable?
“No. No I wouldn’t,” he says simply, as if he has been asked a strange question.
And watching him joke around with yet another customer, claiming he’s trying to collect all 50 states in his display of confiscated IDs, it sure seems to make sense that he’d want to stick around.