Unless you plan to wait until the last minute to buy your July 4 fireworks, you should be able to find what you're looking for. That's the word from Phantom Fireworks, with stores in Amelia, Florence and Lawrenceburg, as well as Rozzi's Famous Fireworks, which sells to the public in Loveland.
This is good news for those concerned about a nationwide fireworks shortage, as reported by NPR and others.
What helped Rozzi's and Phantom stock their shelves?
"Typically on a yearly basis we order about 20 percent more fireworks than what we sold the previous year," Phantom Regional Manager Jeff Bell says. "I would say that right now we are on pace to sell just as many as we did in 2020."
He says last year, customers waited as long as two hours just to get in the showroom. Because of that, he says customers have decided to buy early and sales have been steady for a couple of months.
"I think one advantage that Phantom has is that we are the nation's largest importer of consumer fireworks and there was a priority set on our merchandise to get it here before others," says Bell.
Even though Rozzi's Famous Fireworks is better known for the shows it puts on, Joe Rozzi says the company does sell to consumers in Loveland. Last year he sold out.
"We had to restock from nothing," he says. "Now we did get product in. We have a good inventory - it's not where it usually is but we are noticing it is moving quicker."
He says the company is experiencing a "Fourth of July week" this week in terms of volume.
Some Communities Cancel Firework Displays
Joe Rozzi and others can only be in so many places at once on July 4. He says some communities weren't sure about COVID restrictions and waited too late to make plans. "We've been getting calls from across the country and unfortunately there have been some communities that had to cancel because the vendors were all tied up."
Rozzi says this is the first year ever he's had to turn away business. And he says it may be a year or two before everything straightens itself out. Helping his company with what is a fireworks shortage for some, is the fact that the Rozzi's are part owners of a fireworks factory in Italy.
