BY COREY VAUGHN

THE DAILY IBERIAN

Along with Teche Area residents, local businesses had to cope with the effects of Hurricane Barry as this weekend as it made its way across the area. 

Fremin’s Food and Furniture, which had a grand re-opening earlier this year after the family business was closed and its interior rebuilt following a fire in 2018, was one of the few businesses that operated throughout the entire storm. 

Thanks to a generator that took over after power was lost in the building on Admiral Doyle Drive, the grocery store section of Fremin’s was able to provide local residents with necessities throughout the entire weather event. 

David and Ross Fremin were at the store during much of Barry, and both were proud of the amount of work the Fremin family and Fremin’s staff put into providing Iberia Parish residents with the essentials they needed to get through the weekend. 

How did Fremin’s fare during the storm?

David Fremin: We did all right. We ran out of electricity from Saturday until this morning, but we had a generator we were able to use to stay open. 

Ross Fremin: We did pretty good, I think. Considering the conditions, I think we did as good as you could do. We opened as much as we could to service the people who were in need. We had a delayed opening a couple of days and also closed early, but we fared well. We’re committed to what we do, the family and staff kicked in and pulled together. 

Sunday seemed especially busy for Fremin’s. Was it?

David Fremin: Oh, yeah, we were limiting the amount of people coming in at one point. We just had too many people and we didn’t want it to overflow. We limited the amount that came in and let some more in.

Ross Fremin: Saturday we were pretty busy, but it flowed a little different. Sunday it got to a point where it was overwhelming. There were too many people in the store so we started regulating entrances. It  was getting out of hand so we said we would let 10 people out of the store and five people in.  We wanted to keep it decent and comfortable. Some weren’t happy but it was the only way to control the conditions and staying within safe guidelines. 

Did you run out of merchandise like bread and water?

Ross Fremin:We did run out of ice and bread at one point, but we were diligent enough where we could get it refilled. We sent our truck to the bread distributor to pick up the bread when he said he couldn’t get to us. If they couldn’t get to us, we would go to them. That was our attitude. 

The ice is in Abbeville and we did the same thing. They said they couldn’t put anybody on the road so I said would you load it in the truck if we got there.

We made a couple of runs to pick up the ice. That’s what a lot of people needed the most. 

Any damage to the building?

Ross Fremin: No damage fortunately. We’re all good.