Feature
November
18
Houma’s Pawn Star
by Michelle Gautreaux
If you walk into Fred’s Pawn on East Tunnel Boulevard in Houma and ask to see Fred, you might get Jon instead. Jon Theriot is the owner of Fred’s Pawn.
No, his nickname is not Fred, nor is the dog that appears on many of his advertisements. The name of the store and how it came to be has a story, like many of the items in his store.
Theriot became interested in collecting items many years ago and calls it “an addiction.”
“I never really bought much I needed, I just liked hunting for the items and collecting them. I visited pawn shops often,” Theriot says. His obsession with pawn shops grew and led him to opening his own pawn shop.
Fred’s Pawn Shop
Mon-Sat 9 a.m.- 6 p.m.
1406 East Tunnel Blvd.
985.873.7296
He bought out two Friedman’s stores in a liquidation sale. One of the items included in the inventory were the marquee letters from their sign. Trying to save a little money, Theriot thought he could reuse the letters. His wife, a librarian for the local school system and a wordsmith, created a name for the shop out of the available letters. With some intuition and with a few letters turned upside down, Fred’s Pawn Shop was born.
Pawn shops are a great way to save money and find great values. Theriot explains that with so much protection from law enforcement, stolen items on pawn shop shelves are just hearsay. Items are recorded and descriptions are sent to the proper authorities to be checked. “Every item we have, both on shelves and out on loans are checked through the system,” says the shop owner.
Theriot enjoys interaction with people and takes plenty of items that other pawn shops wouldn’t. His store is full of a wide array of collectibles, possessions and goods. In cases that surround the shop, old and new jewelry, and silver and gold collector’s coins can be found. The walls and floors are lined with antiques and modern items. From dive helmets to signed football helmets, from snow sleds to skis, the hopes of finding something that peaks your interest should be easy. Kids often leave with a little something such as a toy or a ring, generously given by Theriot and his staff.
Many walks of life come through the doors of this very unpredictable business. You might even see a dog, a bull terrier to be exact. Kenzie, the pawn shop’s resident dog, was named by a raffle ticket winner.
Over the years, Theriot and his brother-in-law, Dr. Miller have traded rare items. In their last trade, Theriot sent him a strange metal object with several metal balls, gears and turning handles. Dr. Miller was puzzled by the piece and asked several experts what they thought it was, everyone was clueless. Theriot finally uncovered the use of the piece. It is an antique piece of exercise equipment that mounted to the wall and the balls were meant to roll away fat.
He was once given some coins that looked very worn down, something that had to have been pushed against a table hundreds of times. Theriot explains that, “Long ago, chips were not used in gambling, coins were, so these coins probably left some with smiles and some with tears.”
Theriot believes that anything can be collectible. Items don’t have to be valuable. “Some things that come into the shop are worth more than money,” he says, “it’s their story that is worth something.”
