Keeping in time

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Fabregas Music has withstood the test of time.

A staple of downtown Houma’s Main Street, the local store has been in business for more than 100 years – its earliest roots planted in the late 1800s.


What’s the key to the business’s success?

While a lot has changed in the music industry over the years, one constant remains for the family business – treating customers with care is a must.

“That’s what has kept us going,” store owner James Doiron Jr. said. “If you treat people right, they’ll come back. If you give people the right price, they’ll come back. That’s what we try to do. And I think we’ve done the best that we can to make that happen.”


Professor Frank Fabregas started the local business in 1896 – a year after the man moved to Houma from New Orleans.

While in the Big Easy, Fabregas created a brass band, which quickly grew in size and had as many as 150 people.

Once he relocated to Houma, the natives quickly picked up on Fabregas’ musical roots. He was known around town as “Mr. Music,” and he played music twice a week at Houma’s court square for public enjoyment.


Doiron said he wasn’t exactly sure what was in the store when it opened its doors during the late 1800s.

“I’d imagine he had musical instruments – band instruments and things of that sort. Maybe some pianos,” Doiron said. “He wouldn’t be selling amplifiers at that time, because amplifiers weren’t around then.”

From Professor Fabregas’ foundation, his son Louis Fabregas took over the business from 1920-43.


Under Louis’ watch, the store kept up with America’s changing times by also offering appliances like washers and dryers, in addition to the musical equipment.

Doiron’s great aunt Rosa Fabregas took over the store in the 40s with the help of her nephew James Doiron Sr.

When Rosa passed away in 1981, Doiron Sr. ran the store until 1993.


That’s when Doiron Jr. entered the fold with his brother Danny – a partnership that lasted until 2012.

James Doiron Jr. now is the store’s sole owner.

“This has been passed from generation to generation to generation,” Doiron said with a smile. “But it’s always stayed in our family.”


Throughout the course of its 100-year history, Fabregas Music has had four separate locations – all on Main Street.

Doiron said the store used to be next to the former Dupont’s – now HTV’s new studio.

It then moved across the street and was across from Whitney Bank.


From there, it moved next door to its current location in the building occupied by The Duke restaurant.

It now sits at its current location on 7821 Main Street in Houma.

“We’ve been here for about 30 years,” Doiron said.


With rich history at its disposal, Doiron said the local business has blossomed and rivals the online market and box stores that offer similar products.

“We’re a full-line music store,” he said.

Inside the store’s walls are loads of equipment – the latest and greatest in today’s music.


“We have guitars, amplifiers, PA systems, keyboards, pianos, drumsets, school band instruments – we have those, too,” Doiron said. “We have any types of guitar accessories – the string and just all sorts of things. Microphones, cases – you name it.”

But maybe more important than the products are the service that goes along with them.

Fabregas Music assists customers after the purchase and is willing to assist people throughout all stages of a purchase.


“We don’t forget you after we make the sale,” Doiron said. “We’re always here to help our customers.”

So with 100 years and counting under its belt Fabregas Music continues to chug forward.

Sure, a lot has changed over the years in music.


But the store’s basic philosophy withstood the test of time: Treat customers fairly and they will come back.

“I think we’re doing pretty well for what the times are,” Doiron said. “It’s funny the way it works. We’ll have people come in here and say they bought a guitar here in 1952 from my aunt. We may not always have the ability to help them with equipment that old, but I always tell them, ‘You better hang onto that guitar because it’s worth a lot of money.’

“It’s just wonderful because you meet a lot of people from a lot of ways of life and you get to make a lot of friends.”


Fabregas music owner James Doiron stands at a display case in his store, which has been in business for more than 100 years. The business has been handed down multiple times from founder Frank Fabregas.

CASEY GISCLAIR | THE TIMES