Fireworks are a staple for the Fourth of July 鈥� whether you're watching a full-blown show or setting some off in your yard. For the fireworks industry, it's the biggest time of the year. Last year, lockdowns and event cancellations brought a sales boom to roadside fireworks stands, but this summer might not be the industry鈥檚 most profitable.
Out on Highway 80, just east of San Marcos, Steve Elizalde is running a stand for Alamo Fireworks.
鈥淚 decided that I wanted to do this so my kids have a place to go and work during the summer or in the off-season around the holidays,鈥� he said.
Elizalde works full-time for an Austin publishing company. Since fireworks stands are open only a few weeks a year, he thought it would be the perfect seasonal, time-restricted job. (Texas law allows fireworks sales only between June 24 and July 4, and Dec. 20 and Jan. 1.) But this year, selling fireworks has been a little challenging because there鈥檚 a shortage of fireworks.
鈥淚'm having a hard time with certain ones that are staples, like sparklers,鈥� Elizalde said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have a quarter of the sparklers I would normally have. And the different types of firecrackers 鈥� just standard firecrackers that kind of blow up 鈥� I'm having a hard time having very many of those."
And, he says, some of the ones he sells are twice as expensive as they used to be.
This leads to fewer customers spending less than they normally would ahead of the Fourth of July weekend.
鈥淚f all I have to sell are the big stuff that a lot of people can鈥檛 afford to buy, then I鈥檓 kind of stuck with it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 run the risk of not making as much as I could have had I had all the little stuff and things that are more common for people to purchase.鈥�
This problem is not just at Elizalde鈥檚 stand; it鈥檚 everywhere this year.
Chester Davis has owned and operated American Fireworks in and around Austin and Houston for five decades. He says he鈥檚 never seen it this bad.
鈥淲hen we get an order in from a customer, we come in here and we pack the order right here," Davis said at his warehouse just west of Bastrop on Highway 71. "But we don鈥檛 have any, because we鈥檝e had to turn away so many customers because of lack of product.鈥�
He has never seen his warehouse this empty. And he鈥檚 never had to turn people away like he has during what should be his biggest week of the year.
鈥淚f the supplies were where they should be and like they鈥檝e been for 50 years, we鈥檇 be so busy right here now,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檇 have product on the shelves. We鈥檇 have product stacked on top. We鈥檇 have customers buzzing this place. We have to turn back so much business because we can鈥檛 give them product. We鈥檙e trying to supply our warehouses, and our stores, and our stands. So, you know, we鈥檙e 50 containers short of where we ought to be.鈥�
Normally his Bastrop and Tomball warehouses are filled with a six-month supply of fireworks. To be clear, this is no small operation: American Fireworks is the dominant name in local fireworks. It owns and operates 165 stands and 15 box stores, and serves 450 wholesale customers. That means if you're buying fireworks elsewhere nearby, you might be buying Davis' products.
The shortage is like if H-E-B ran out of milk, bread and toilet paper (if you could imagine). And while firecrackers are not nearly as essential as groceries, they are subject to the same supply-chain disruptions that have plagued other businesses: COVID-19 and the weather.
American Fireworks has to order everything for the Fourth of July more than a year in advance from China.
鈥淭hey stopped making the product in China because of the virus,鈥� Davis said. 鈥淎nd then there was a shortage of steel shipping containers. And so they couldn鈥檛 get the containers loaded to get them on ships.鈥�
Once Davis finally got the fireworks into containers, he had to renegotiate shipping. And then in transit, one of the container ships with his cargo hit a typhoon, sending an entire shipment of fireworks to the bottom of the ocean.
And that was just getting the fireworks to this continent.
鈥淭hen we get them into the port of California, then they don鈥檛 want to unload the ships,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o the ships are sitting out in the bay, anchored out, been out there for maybe a month or so, two months. Then when the container finally gets unloaded, then we couldn鈥檛 get it on the rail because Southern Pacific said they didn鈥檛 have room to get it on the trains that come into Houston.鈥�
After some rerouting and additional expenses, a limited supply made it to Austin in time for the Fourth of July. So American Fireworks' warehouses are mostly empty and Davis' stores don鈥檛 have everything customers have come to expect over an Independence Day weekend. He says it might take a year or more to get back to normal.
Davis doesn鈥檛 want to think too much about the money his company will miss out on, though. He prefers to focus on the joy his fireworks bring.
鈥淚鈥檓 a man that has believed in the apple pie, Chevrolet, parades, picnics, then top it off on that night with fireworks,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 believe that and when I die that鈥檚 exactly how I want to go out. I want everybody to have a picnic. I want to be hauled down the road in a parade and when we get to the end of the deal, let鈥檚 shoot some fireworks.鈥�
Davis offers the same advice heard during every other shortage we鈥檝e lived through recently: Go early. Don鈥檛 wait until Sunday.
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