Lou Taubert: A Boxer Turned Cowboy And Wyoming Western Wear Legend

CASPER — A 60,000-square-foot building full of cowboy hats, boots, jeans and all things Western in the Oil City’s historic downtown district draws people from across Wyoming and the world.

It began with a vision in Germany, and 104 years later is still going strong as a Western wear icon.

“I think our customer is the universe,” said Louis Taubert Jr., the 70-year-old leader of the third-generation family business Lou Taubert Ranch Outfitters. “There is a lot of international travel, and those people like to see the West and they come to Wyoming, and we get a lot of those.”

He also points to generational relationships with locals who continue to turn to the nine-floor center of clothing, boots, saddles, tack and Western gifts for whatever they need. It’s where real cowboys go for their gear. And because of that, it’s where those who wish they were cowboys relive their dreams.

“Our business is good, and I think our biggest accolade is that we have inventory,” Taubert said.

As a young man, Taubert’s grandfather, C.W. “Curt” Taubert who was born in 1890, ran away from his home near Leipzig, Germany, because of his love for horses.

He found work at the Berlin Hippodrome, and when Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show toured the country and he couldn’t go, he set his sights on America and seeing the show. The lure of the American Cowboy had hit the young Taubert — hard.

“And at the age of 15 or 16 he jumped on a ship and docked at Ellis Island, didn’t speak any English,” Taubert said. “In New York, he didn’t have any money.”

Boxer To Cowboy

To earn his way, Curt Taubert got in the boxing ring and became a sparring partner.

“He was a small man, but he was kind of ferocious,” Taubert told Cowboy State Daily.

Taubert said his grandfather at some point headed west. There would be stops in Oklahoma and Nebraska, but he arrived in Wyoming in 1909, and go work as a cowboy. In 1910, he rode for the O Ten Bar and the Nine Bar and then for J.M. Cattle Co.

“He did all the things that a cowboy does to hone his skills and be valuable,” Taubert said.

One of those skills must have been administration and management, because by 1916, his bosses at the ranch recognized his business acumen and made him manager of J.M. Lumber Co. in Fort Laramie, which was owned by the ranch.

A fire in 1917 burned the town down and it was rebuilt on the north side of the Platte River, which is when C.W. Taubert saw his opportunity. Among the several businesses created in the reborn community was Taubert’s Hardware and Ranch Supply.

“It wasn’t the Western store we have today,” said his grandson. “It was more horseshoes, a pair of gloves, turpentine, horseshoe nails, collars for horses — all the necessities for ranchers and farmers — and he sold groceries, too.”

His grandfather would sell things on credit and customers would come in after selling eggs or livestock and pay their bills.

Eventually, his grandfather bought land and started a ranch in Fort Laramie, which the family still owns and manages.

A Family Business

From that up-from-the-bootstraps beginning, a family business that includes agriculture and retail sales took root and weathered all the storms and boom-bust cycles Wyoming could throw at it over the past century.

Taubert said he didn’t really know his grandfather well, and he died while Louis Taubert Jr. was a young teen. His own father, Louis Taubert Sr., was born in Fort Laramie in 1918 and spent his youth working at both the ranch and retail store.

After serving in World War II, the newly married Taubert Sr. saw retail possibilities in a larger city. Once in Casper, he worked in a retail store for a while, and then rented a building to start his own in 1947.

“My dad, I think he was smart and, more than anything, had common sense, and he put everything back into his business,” Taubert said. “He understood that in order to succeed, you have to take care of your business like it was a family member. If you rob that business by buying big toys or taking out a big salary, then the business will not succeed.”

Another reason for the business’ success was Taubert’s mother, Pauline, who raised six kids and also served as his dad’s righthand business advisor. She often worked alongside everyone at the store.

“She died just a year ago at the age of 99-and-a-half, and she was very instrumental in the success of the business and raising a family,” he said. “My dad died in 1999, and she was down here every day since then until six months before she died. She worked, she was strong as a horse.”

All the children — Kurt, Louis Jr., Carlene, Anita, Frieda and Robert — would find a place in the family enterprises.

As a youngster, Taubert said he can remember being dressed “to the nines” with a sister in cowboy and cowgirl outfits and sent out on the streets with nickels and specially worded business cards. They would feed expired parking meters and leave a card on the windshield to inform the driver who saved him or her from a ticket.

Taubert said his father in the early 1960s bought the first four-floor building on Second Street in Casper. That building continues to serve customers. A slow process of expansion began with the business going from the main floor, then to the basement, third floor and then second floor.

In 1978, Taubert joined his father in a management role. He graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in business in 1976, got married and spent a year at the ranch before returning to Casper.

Never Goes Out Of Style

In 1980, the business expanded again with the purchase of space directly east of the store. The family knocked out a wall and grew their business larger. They also opened a successful store in Billings, Montana. The family closed that one in 2018 just to “pare things back.”

“My dad told me the secret to his success is that Western wear never went out of style,” Taubert said. “Same way with boots, they always circle around from a real narrow toe, to a medium round toe, and now a square toe. And now people won’t wear the square toe. That’s why we give them such a selection.”

Another secret to the 104 years of longevity for the business centers around customer service and having inventory. While Amazon and the internet can be convenient, Taubert said boots and clothes ordered online are not always the right fit — especially cowboy boots.

“If you want to be fit right, you come here,” he said. “Because there is a difference between fitting a pair of boots and selling a pair of boots.”

A basement full of jeans offers customers a full range of sizes, colors and styles.

“My dad would always say, ‘You can’t sell from an empty shelf,’” Taubert said.

Technology is something Taubert said he has not readily embraced. Cash registers are old-school and receipts are handwritten. There are no spreadsheets or even a budget — just years of experience about customer wants and business savvy.

He said the company has had to install a few computers for certain business functions, and an update to its credit card capabilities was being installed when Cowboy State Daily visited.

Taubert said he still enjoys coming to work with family around him. While his brothers and sisters are still involved in the business, his children have pursued other interests, and he’s fine with that.

A Casper Destination

An anchor store in downtown Casper, Taubert said he does not dwell on that fact, but knows that because of 14 billboards the store has across the state, people seek out the store and city.

“You can’t imagine the number of people that brings into the city,” he said of the billboards. “I know because they see the sign and us. But the other monies they spend in our community I don’t think it is appreciated. Those billboards bring people to Casper.”

As a businessman, Taubert said he believes that the right person with digital marketing and internet skills could take the family store to an entirely new level and develop a larger customer base around the world. But he is not that person, and he has no plans to retire.

“I’m going to do it until I don’t like it, and then I’ll get out,” he said. “I enjoy coming to work, I enjoy our customers, I enjoy the challenges because it is not easy. But when I start not to like it, I will think of a way out, but that is not anytime soon.”

Contact Dale Killingbeck at dale@cowboystatedaily.com

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.