As Northwestern State University of Louisiana kicks off the 2025 fall semester, local businesses are preparing for the annual back-to-school spending surge.
Over the summer, NSU’s Office of Marketing and Branding started a movement called Proud to be Purple, connecting student life to the Natchitoches community. Local businesses from coffee shops to banks are participating in this movement, along with offering discounts to NSU students.
“President Genovese wanted a call to action for our community to have businesses and residents support NSU,” Amy Lee, director of marketing and branding, said. “Our students are the people who work for these stores and restaurants. We support the businesses and we want that in return.”
The Proud to be Purple movement is free to participants. NSU Marketing provides and installs flags and signs for the businesses that want to display their Demon pride. Some local businesses also offer “Demon Deals” to NSU students.
“If a business participates in Demon Deals, they get an NSU decal on the door of the business to show students that a student discount is offered,” Lee said.
Several local businesses in Natchitoches have embraced the initiative with discounts and services tailor to NSU students. According to Demon Deals, there are currently 46 local businesses that offer deals for NSU students.
StoryBrew Coffee Café on Front Street is a popular spot for many Demons and offers a 15% discount for NSU students and staff on Mondays and during midterms and finals weeks.
Travis Beaudoin, whose wife owns StoryBrew, expressed his excitement for business to ramp up for back-to-school season compared to the slower summer months.
“Students and tourists make up 90% of our customers and only 10% are locals,” Beaudoin said. “When it comes to the students and the new school year, we found that they do not start visiting StoryBrew for a couple of months into the semester because they do not know that we exist.”
The Bank of Montgomery (BOM) has been serving as the official bank of NSU since September 2017. BOM’s partnership provides much financial support to students.
Micah Murchison, Louisiana marketing manager of BOM, explained that the Natchitoches branch is offering free collegiate checking accounts to NSU students as well as ATMs on campus. With the free collegiate account, students receive free items such as a debit card, a box of checks, unlimited check writing and online banking.
Carrie Beth Hough, BOM’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, discussed BOM’s preparation for the back to school influx of students that started in the summer with visits to all of the Freshman Connection sessions.
“We go to all of the Freshman Connection sessions in Natchitoches and open up accounts for students while they are here on campus during that time frame,” Hough said.
With Proud to be Purple generating support for NSU, business and students anticipate the partnership will bridge the gap between the community and grow stronger throughout the school year.
