SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. — Depending on where you are shopping for fireworks this year, the prices might be higher than you’d expect.
Nick Neshan operates one of the Monster Fireworks stands in Greer.
“My dad actually started doing firework sales when I was about 12. I am 37 now, so we kind of just slowly have built it up over time,” said Neshan.
With that kind of experience, Neshan is an expert in all things that spark.
“It’s kind of like a show in a box. You can just set it up right at once and kind of sit back and enjoy it,” he explained. “You don’t have to do a lot of extra work.”
Neshan said every year his family places an order with a distributor to get new inventory, which ships from China. With recent changes to tariffs on Chinese goods, the prices of fireworks saw another bump.
According to the American Pyrotechnic Association, China produces 99% of consumer fireworks and 90% of professional display fireworks.
“In the last year or two, everything had kind of already shot up. But they’re definitely up from what we’re used to seeing,” he said.
Luckily Neshan said his family ordered their inventory far in advance, avoiding passing the price hike to customers.
“They’re scared to come out and buy, thinking that the prices are just through the roof and it’s not the case,” Neshan added. “We were able to kind of maintain and keep the same pricing — actually, we were able to get prices down on, we were able to purchase [some of the inventory] prior to a lot of the tariffs going into effect.”
For many in the firework business, the Fourth of July holiday is the biggest time of the year.
Neshan said how much they sell each year varies.
“It’s huge and some years, it’s better than others. It really just, depends on how the economy is doing. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the world, so it kind of affects the prices and how a lot of that works, but we try to get out here and make sure that everybody is able to enjoy the holiday and have a good time,” he said.
Monster Fireworks said the bulk of their sales happen between July 3 – 4 of July; in previous years, they stayed open as late as 2 a.m.
