LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Last Fourth of July some fireworks stores went dark because they ran out of product. The same thing may happen again this year. Demand for consumer fireworks is near all-time highs, but logistics bottlenecks are cutting the supply by about 30%, boosting prices and robbing some retailers of a chance to cash in what might otherwise have been their best year ever, according to Mike Collar, president of Winco Fireworks, one of the largest U.S. importers.

Take the Pyro City store near Lone Jack, Mo. At first glance it seems packed with dazzling, heavy fireworks boxes, some as big as toaster ovens with names like Gunfighters From Hell, Skull Crusher, and Redneck Diamonds. But there are gaps on the shelves, some masked by empty boxes. The selection isn’t as broad this year, and then there’s the price.

“They are super expensive,” says Mary Daniel, 65, a local mom who’s shopping for fireworks for the first time in years. “I didn’t expect this, I sure didn’t,” she chuckles.

For instance, the door-sized, 100-lb party assortment right in front of Daniel, called the Godfather is going for $649.99 this year, up $100 from last year. That’s typical. Retail fireworks are up 20 to 25% this year, and still selling briskly, according to store manager Donna Nuccio. Nuccio expects to run out of the Godfather, and most of the rest of her stock by the Fourth of July, partly because of last year’s “unbelievable” sales.

- A word from our sposor -

Good Luck Finding Fireworks. Sales Are Booming But A Shortage Looms