Dotting the surrounding roads of Carowinds Boulevard, an array of fireworks stores serve the greater Charlotte area and South Carolinians within the Piedmont.
Benefiting from the state border, these stores see pilgrimage from pyrotechnic-hungry North Carolinians, watching as they smuggle fireworks banned in their state.
While July is always a business boom, this year is extra special, as this Fourth marks the 250th anniversary of the United States. With a bombastic celebration ready to go, how are these stores holding up?
Regarding the anniversary, “We’ve had people come in specifically and tell us that they’re going to buy more this year because of that,” said Roger Aiton, assistant manager of Davy Jones Fireworks, previously Big Daddy’s Fireworks.
Fireworks Supermarket echoed this sentiment, also noticing an increase in sales, said Garett Denton, the store’s general manager.
“With the 250th, we have a lot of Happy Birthday Americas-themed things; we have a lot of red, white and blue,” he said. Obviously that’s always big, but this year we have a new presidential party, just everything to celebrate the 250th anniversary.”
Surprisingly, the World Cup has also boosted sales, he added.
“We’ve had a couple people come in, maybe from France and other places, and they’re like ‘Man, we don’t get to do this,’ so it’s pretty exciting to see the differences between [us].”
Ironically, even with increased foot traffic, this year’s celebration seems more local to some stores.
“I think a lot of people seem to be staying close to home this year for their celebration, and I think that’s helping us as well,” said Kimberly Pyles, seasonal manager of Red Rocket Fireworks.
Doug Cianfrocca, owner of Area 51 Fireworks, noticed this too.
“The 250th year in this area is good, but over the rest of the country it’s not good,” he said.
“Gas prices are up, people have to pay more money to get here, expenses are up, food is up, economy’s getting more expensive and it’s affected all industries, including the firework industry.”
In spite of the economy, however, if people want fireworks, they are going to buy them, Roger Aiton explained.
“We’re all complaining about the gas prices and the food prices; get yourself a part-time job,” he said.
“That’s what I would do if I wanted to buy fireworks. We just gotta move forward.”
The stores are moving forward too, as even when the Fourth dies down, they have business to attend to, Kimberly Pyles said.
“We’re open year-round, so once the Fourth of July is over, a lot of it is just housekeeping.”
Even after the holidays, “you have a lot of travelers come through, and then people celebrate with fireworks for all kinds of things. Birthdays, anniversaries, different holidays,” she explained.
Though of course, there’s one thing Pyles, and anyone else in the industry, wants.
“We want everybody to have a safe and happy Fourth.”
