Was talking with someone in CS and they said that Loupot's closed. Basicly kids these days use kindles or ipads instead of books.

I remember walking over to one of their stores as a fish to buy belts and other brass I needed.

If Loupots is closed where are we gonna buy a stack?

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If Loupots is closed where are we gonna buy a stack?

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I sense an opportunity for an Internet business.

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I sense an opportunity for an Internet business.

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We'd better license and copyright the material before "competitors" swamp the market.

I was in Aggieland for Parents weekend. Loupot's at Northgate is indeed closed. Rumor has it they will make a bar/restaurant out of it. The building is in great shape and it's a prime location.

Old Army is dead.

south location is closed too. It is indeed gone.

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Old Army is dead.

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New Army is tired of being ripped off for college texts.

sad. end of an institution. Lou was a great guy and truly loved A&M. I hope someone will one day write a book about all the behind the scenes things that Lou did for thousands of Aggies over the generations.

When we were fish, all of our buddies went out for a BBQ lunch. Probably the first Saturday that there was no football game. I think we were down to about 22 buddies or so by then (started with 30) and I distinctly remember that both of our Waggie buddies were there because one of them had a truck. Only about 4 of us had vehicles so it was difficult to go anywhere as a group.

Anyway, it was the BBQ place over by the Chicken Oil Company. Old Army Lou comes in there and he tells the waitress that he wants to buy a beer for all of us. The waitress tells him that he can't because we're all under 21. The law had only changed from 19 a few years earlier. Lou throws a fit and was mega-pissed that he couldn't buy us all a beer.

I was impressed to say the least. Honestly, I thought he was going to get his way.

"New Army is tired of being ripped off for college texts."

We were just as pissed about it in our day. College textbooks have long been a ripoff. I'm not sure why they couldn't keep the store open just as a place that sells t-shirts, corps stuff (brass, polish, ribbons, etc.) and other A&M merchandise. Can you still get corps stuff at the MSC?

But....I want a new stack and now I can't f'ing find one since Lou's is defunct!

"your book isn't worth anything Aggie, but I will give you a dollar for your friendship"....back when a dollar was worth a lot more!

All their Corps stuff has been moved to Traditions at the other end of that strip on Southgate. Traditions and Loupots had pretty much the same selection of shirts and stuff like that anyway.

[This message has been edited by BQBass13 (edited 4/12/2012 9:26p).]

I wonder if they will be closing the Loupot's in Stafford that services HCC/UH Stafford campus? Hadn't been by there in a few weeks...guess I'll have to make a special trip over to see.

It is the end of a long era. Sorry to see it go.

"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man," Psalm 118:8.

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I'm not sure why they couldn't keep the store open just as a place that sells t-shirts, corps stuff (brass, polish, ribbons, etc.) and other A&M merchandise.

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I used to shop for Aggie gear at the Aggieland Bookstore on Bush a couple of times a year (usually before a football game). I'd check out Loupot's as well, their selection of non-corps items was horrible. Last year, the same could be said of the Aggieland Bookstore too.

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I'm not sure why they couldn't keep the store open just as a place that sells t-shirts, corps stuff (brass, polish, ribbons, etc.) and other A&M merchandise

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Because they'd be bankrupt in less than a year.

I worked at the Southside Loupots for 2 years in the late 90's and the traffic that store got that wasn't book related was pretty much little-to-none. Other than the corps guys coming in to buy a new belt, ribbon, etc., we might have 1-2 people per hour come in to buy something...and not all of those would buy something. And the Corps guys...maybe one per day.

Game weekends in the fall would be crowded, but 6-10 weekends/year of traffic combined with 8-10 sales (typically small...college budget kind of stuff) per day, combined with the rent/taxes/payroll of running that kind of business equals crappy.

Loupots has actually been "gone" a while now, 2 or 3 years. They sold out to an outfit in Nebraska that operates college bookstores.

The contract ran out, and so did the national chain. (There's a thread on this in the myBSC board, if a week or so ago.)

Also, every semester, there's at least on thread on how not ALL textbooks are available as e-books.

There will always be a need for paper texts; reference books, and the like. There will always be a hue and cry by students footing the bill for what will (or may be) a lifetime of use.

It will be interesting to see how MSC bookstore's sales will be affected.

At least there won't be another one of these photos to have to explain...

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I wonder if they will be closing the Loupot's in Stafford that services HCC/UH Stafford campus? Hadn't been by there in a few weeks...guess I'll have to make a special trip over to see.

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Lee, that Loupot's was on Murphy Rd between Wendy's and (ironically) Murphy's Deli, right?

I drove down Murphy Rd on Friday and I'm 95% sure that there was nothing next to Murphy's. I wasn't specifically looking for Loupot's, but since you mention it, I don't think there was anything there.

Old Army Lou, Class of 32
He screwed your Daddy and he'll screw you!

Actually Lou was a great guy. Just the book business. Buy for 50, sell 4 months later for 5. At least that was the deal in the late 60s.

Had an ol'Ag Class of '49 tell Bop an interesting story about Ol'Army Lou.
Back in the late 1940's, Lou got a late Saturday night phone call from some Ag in Houston.
About 30 or 40 cadets were arrested by Houston police (Corps Trip brawl).
Lou gets a C/S friend of his to crank up his flat-bed 18-wheeler and drive Lou to Houston (Lou with a wad of cash).
Lou bails out the entire bunch. Tells 'em to get on the flat-bed cause he's takin' 'em back to C/S.
They all jump up on flatbed (with no siding) and crowd into the middle and start locking arms.
Problem was, the driver was pushing real hard to get back to C/S (on a two-lane road) and the late-night temperature began falling fast.
Wind chill must have been near or below 32 degrees.
Some cadets started falling asleep and the arm-grip lock idea occasionally failed.
Ol'Ag story teller said it was an absolute miracle no one fell from that flat-bed frozen stiff (at 50-60 mph).
Anyhow, they all get back to C/S and Lou told everyone to get off not say a word.
(Of course, word spread like wildfire and Ol'Army Lou -Class of '32- was endeared in those Aggie hearts as a hero forever.)
Lou and Congressman Olin Teague '32 of College Station were big Corps outfit buds and lifelong friends.

At hot temperature Corps Reviews, and Final Review, Bop can well remember how Lou would open the back his big station wagon full of ice-in-cups near Simpson Drill Field. As units marched by he and his family would give out ice and extoll everyone to share with those who were in need
You can certainly say this, Ol'Army Lou, Class of '32, was a great P.R. man.

[This message has been edited by BeBopAg (edited 4/19/2012 10:51p).]

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Lou and Congressman Olin Teague '32 of College Station were big Corps outfit buds and lifelong friends

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The manager of the Southside Loupots for a LONG time was Linda Teague. Wonder if she was a daughter-in-law of Olin?

Stive...
Don't know but good bet there's a connection.

She was married to an Air Force officer....can't remember what rank. If Olin had a son in the military, I'd bet there was a connection.

There are some hilarious stories about Linda....she was a CHARACTER!!!

Olin had a son, USAF (ret) Col. John O. Teague '58, College Station.
Good bet that's the possible connection.

Would make a great book if Ags could put their collective stories together about Ol'Army Lou '32.

That would put him/her about the right age. She "retired" from managing the store in 2000 or 2001. So figure she was 60-65 at that point, she would be about his age.

Bop was good friend of '32 Olin Teague's Aggie roommate (old lady).
He told Bop the true story how Ags got Reveille I.
"Finding lonely little dog beside the road" was just a cover story to try and get sympathy from A&M Bulls. It worked.
Bop told Reveille story at roomates funeral.

Wow, I guess taking advantage of students selling textbooks only gets you so far...

Good for the new generation - capitalism at work

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Wow, I guess taking advantage of students selling textbooks only gets you so far...

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You do realize that the biggest hose jobs when it came to books were the profs that wrote them right?

There were jerks that would tweak or change their book almost every year so that the book stores would have to buy their new edition and couldn't repurchase the old one.

I can't remember exactly, but it seems like Loupots had to sell and buy back a book 3 times before they made any money on it (so 3 semesters...summers included). The mark up wasn't that big on the books and the biggest piece of the price was what the publisher/author charged the bookstores.

My favorite moments working the counter at Loupots were when the parents came in with the kids to sell books back. Or when a freshman would come in to sell their book back....throw a fit about the buy back price...and bring a parent back to the store later because the parent thought they could work over the manager, or they could "negotiate" better than their kid. It wasn't a negotiation...the prices were set in the computer. But that didn't stop the hissy fit that they always threw when they realized it wasn't going to go their way. Especially after standing in line for 30-45 minutes.

Remember once talking to a sip medical student (Galveston) who claimed he bought black market US copyrighted medical books in Matamoros (printed in China).
Saved a ton and was worth the trip to sell some of 'em back. Had a little coop goin'.