2024 Firework Purchasing - Missouri?

[2speedy1]

I think was saying the stand pays $100 for the inventory and then on that $100 of inventory they sell it for $300-$500.

Most retail places average about a 400% markup.

If you are spending the $$, you are better off going wholesale if you can get linked up with one.

Unfortunately, you usually have to go that route long before now. I usually always bought around March for for the rest of the years supply.

Then late year conventions, to get the, best products to save for the next year.

 

[2speedy1]

Damn, wish I could come up with a business to turn $100 purchase into $300-500 profit. They must be literally printing money.

They have to pay for a lot of things. You think your homeowners insurance is high, try opening a fireworks store.

 

[NWICY]

The firework stand market has become totally oversaturated. No way these places are making money.

Out on 30 west of CR there are either 2 or 3 in a no more than 5 mile stretch. That seemed like oversaturation to me.

 

[2speedy1]

Fireworks Superstore, Hannibal MO

Trust me you won't be disappointed.

This one will have a lot more quality product than any Sheltons.

Sheltons is pretty crap quality, mostly their own in house low quality brand.

Fireworks Superstore sells good brand and good quality products.

Best thing to do is search youtube for videos before you buy to see what they are like, thats if you are not going to demo shows and conventions to see them.

 

[Tailg8er]

I think was saying the stand pays $100 for the inventory and then on that $100 of inventory they sell it for $300-$500.

Now that I can believe for sure.

 

[cytech]

You need to drive past the border to get good deals. If you are near I35 goto Pyro's Paradise in Holt https://pyrosparadise.com/

If you are near I-380 goto Fireworks Super Store in Hannibal https://www.thefireworkssuperstorellc.com/

These 2 places blow Shelton's out of the water. I find that Shelton's prices are very similar to some stands in Iowa, some stands here are extremely over priced.

I would say Fireworks Superstore is my favorite, but I really like Pyro's Paradise too. Have purchased from them the last 2 years.

 

[enisthemenace]

I think was saying the stand pays $100 for the inventory and then on that $100 of inventory they sell it for $300-$500.

Thank you. Yes…this is what I meant. I know…it was not worded very well.

 

[Turn2]

Existential question: If you blow off all your fingers, how will you hold your fireworks ice cream cone?

View attachment 130831

 

[wonkadog]

They sell the same fireworks in Missouri that they sell here. Did fireworks for years, bought in many states, as far as size they are all consumer and all the same grade.

Now some places have better selection and some brands have better stuff, but consumer grade is consumer grade if it can be sold in Missouri, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota or anywhere else, it can be sold here.

The only thing that differs is length of time they can sell, and possibly one brand or another, and they have bigger stores because they allow year round sales.

Best bang for you buck....buy wholesale.

Thanks for the info, nice hearing from someone who was in the business and knows their stuff. We have limited time later today before catching the fireworks in town and were going to make a run to Shelton Fireworks and back in Eagleville. Waste of time? If so, where's the money spot in central Iowa?

I've always loved getting the single "big boomers" that shoot up a one ball into the air and just explode with a massive bang, making every dog in a 20 mile radius s%t themselves. I believe M-80's back in the day. What would be comparable now?

Thanks again.

 

[cytech]

Thanks for the info, nice hearing from someone who was in the business and knows their stuff. We have limited time later today before catching the fireworks in town and were going to make a run to Shelton Fireworks and back in Eagleville. Waste of time? If so, where's the money spot in central Iowa?

I've always loved getting the single "big boomers" that shoot up a one ball into the air and just explode with a massive bang, making every dog in a 20 mile radius s%t themselves. I believe M-80's back in the day. What would be comparable now?

Thanks again.

If it sheltons or bust, I would just shop the stands around your area. I find the the Iowa Fireworks Company has some of the best prices where I am. If you have an extra hour to drive to Pyro's paradise in Holt Missouri you can save some money.

They don't make good M-80's anymore, but there are several shell sets that just make loud noises.

 

[wonkadog]

If it sheltons or bust, I would just shop the stands around your area. I find the the Iowa Fireworks Company has some of the best prices where I am. If you have an extra hour to drive to Pyro's paradise in Holt Missouri you can save some money.

They don't make good M-80's anymore, but there are several shell sets that just make loud noises.

I have no partiality to Shelton's and would only make the 3-4 hour round trip from Ames if there were a difference in product selection. With the info in this thread it would appear I am still living in my childhood where Missouri was the "go-to" to get stuff. Now I just need to figure out the best spot in the Des Moines area to go to. Last year I visited a tent in Ames and I didn't get a feel that the folks running the place had a clue what they were doing other than ringing things up and taking money. Any suggestions from those around here?

 

[CySki]

They sell the same fireworks in Missouri that they sell here. Did fireworks for years, bought in many states, as far as size they are all consumer and all the same grade.

Now some places have better selection and some brands have better stuff, but consumer grade is consumer grade if it can be sold in Missouri, Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota or anywhere else, it can be sold here.

The only thing that differs is length of time they can sell, and possibly one brand or another, and they have bigger stores because they allow year round sales.

Best bang for you buck....buy wholesale.

I did a wholesale order this year and here are some things to keep in mind, at least from my experience. Seems like most of the places I looked have a minimum of $1000. I think a few may have a $500 minimum depending one how early you get your order in. Fireworks are expensive to ship and while for me, it still was cheaper to go wholesale, the shipping costs does eat into those savings a bit. The wholesale sites are also going to have volume discount tiers. So if you're spending more than $2000 you'll get 10% off and then another tier around $5000 or so for another discount, so on and so forth. Also, if you're planning on having them shipped to a residential address, you'll need to pay a truck lift fee. This is basically a fee that the shipping company charges to put the pallet on their lift thingy (technical term there) to lower it and then drop the pallet in your driveway or wherever. I think this was about $70 for me. If you have a business or know somebody with a business that has a loading dock or something where they don't have to use their lift then you'll save yourself some money. Wholesale sells by the case. So while a few fireworks I got came in one per case, most of them came in multiple per case. This ranged from 2 per case to 8 per case depending on the size of the firework. This should be marked as something like 4/1 to show that it's 4 per case. So know what you're actually buying. I got my fireworks through superior fireworks because I liked a lot of their SFX brand fireworks and had I had a great experience. I think in the future I'll ask around to see if any family, friends, or neighbors want to go in on buying wholesale to take advantage of the volume discount, split some of the cases up, and to try to share the shipping and lift fee.

 

[CySki]

I have no partiality to Shelton's and would only make the 3-4 hour round trip from Ames if there were a difference in product selection. With the info in this thread it would appear I am still living in my childhood where Missouri was the "go-to" to get stuff. Now I just need to figure out the best spot in the Des Moines area to go to. Last year I visited a tent in Ames and I didn't get a feel that the folks running the place had a clue what they were doing other than ringing things up and taking money. Any suggestions from those around here?

I'm in Waukee and I've had good experiences with the Freedom Fireworks tent in Adel behind Lincoln Savings Bank. Just this year I discovered a guy who is selling them out of a couple shipping containers off of Hickman in Waukee in the 4 Paws Unleashed parking lot across from the Kindercare. I did quite a bit of research this year on what some of the better firework buys are and this guy has pretty much all the common ones that would come up, and for pretty good prices. He very knowledgeable and hand picks all of his favorite fireworks from his distributors and from my limited experience and research he seemed to at least be selecting ones that were popular in the online groups that I was perusing.

 

[3TrueFans]

I did a wholesale order this year and here are some things to keep in mind, at least from my experience. Seems like most of the places I looked have a minimum of $1000. I think a few may have a $500 minimum depending one how early you get your order in. Fireworks are expensive to ship and while for me, it still was cheaper to go wholesale, the shipping costs does eat into those savings a bit. The wholesale sites are also going to have volume discount tiers. So if you're spending more than $2000 you'll get 10% off and then another tier around $5000 or so for another discount, so on and so forth. Also, if you're planning on having them shipped to a residential address, you'll need to pay a truck lift fee. This is basically a fee that the shipping company charges to put the pallet on their lift thingy (technical term there) to lower it and then drop the pallet in your driveway or wherever. I think this was about $70 for me. If you have a business or know somebody with a business that has a loading dock or something where they don't have to use their lift then you'll save yourself some money. Wholesale sells by the case. So while a few fireworks I got came in one per case, most of them came in multiple per case. This ranged from 2 per case to 8 per case depending on the size of the firework. This should be marked as something like 4/1 to show that it's 4 per case. So know what you're actually buying. I got my fireworks through superior fireworks because I liked a lot of their SFX brand fireworks and had I had a great experience. I think in the future I'll ask around to see if any family, friends, or neighbors want to go in on buying wholesale to take advantage of the volume discount, split some of the cases up, and to try to share the shipping and lift fee.

You bought a pallet of fireworks? Is this just for personal use?

 

[CySki]

You bought a pallet of fireworks? Is this just for personal use?

As far as I could tell, if you go wholesale it most likely is coming via freight shipping and on a pallet. The minimum is probably going to be $1000 so it's definitely enough cases to justify putting it on a wrapped pallet. Maybe that's only a case or two tall but it was on a pallet. Yes this just for personal use. Every year a few of us go in together on fireworks to do a show and between all of us it made sense to just go wholesale. Next year I'll ask around to see if more people want to go in on it to help split up those costs even more.

 

[ianoconnor]

I'm in Waukee and I've had good experiences with the Freedom Fireworks tent in Adel behind Lincoln Savings Bank. Just this year I discovered a guy who is selling them out of a couple shipping containers off of Hickman in Waukee in the 4 Paws Unleashed parking lot across from the Kindercare. I did quite a bit of research this year on what some of the better firework buys are and this guy has pretty much all the common ones that would come up, and for pretty good prices. He very knowledgeable and hand picks all of his favorite fireworks from his distributors and from my limited experience and research he seemed to at least be selecting ones that were popular in the online groups that I was perusing.

Appreciate the rec - may have to swing over there. Any advice on best bang for buck products?

 

[ClonerJams]

 

[2speedy1]

Thanks for the info, nice hearing from someone who was in the business and knows their stuff. We have limited time later today before catching the fireworks in town and were going to make a run to Shelton Fireworks and back in Eagleville. Waste of time? If so, where's the money spot in central Iowa?

I've always loved getting the single "big boomers" that shoot up a one ball into the air and just explode with a massive bang, making every dog in a 20 mile radius s%t themselves. I believe M-80's back in the day. What would be comparable now?

Thanks again.

It really depends, if you are short on time, a drive any distance probably isnt going to save a lot. You may find more selection in one place, But then you can also hit several different tents and get more selection.

If I was going to make a trip out of it, I would go to Fireworks Superstore in Hannibal. Otherwise about any full time store will have a decent selection. Personally I would go to the fireworks stores across the road from Sheltons first. Avoid TNT for anything major, Phantom has some good stuff but is expensive, they have some crap too, but most have those too. Stick to name brands like Brothers, Winda, Pyro Planet, World Class, Red Rhino, Pyro King, Pyros Pride, Shogun, Legend, Big, Dominator, Great Grizzley, Canon, Supreme, Cutting Edge. To name the ones off the top of my head. Some of these brands are more regional.

Canister shells are the "loudest" consumer shells available. Excalibur Shells usually are decent. (make sure you load them correctly or you are going to have a bad night!)

Real M-80s are banned and have been for a while. Anyone selling anything that resembles a M-80 is most likely just a firecracker, in a bigger package.

Dont get fooled by a so call 5 inch tube cake, if you actually look in them they are just a tube in a tube, they put a smaller tube hidden in a big tube to make it look bigger, the legal limit is far smaller than 5 inches, you can actually get the maximum powder load allowed for consumers in a ball about 2 1/2 inches. Anything over 3 inches is just a gimmick. (professional fireworks not included)

There are black markets and hot loads out there but I am not going to go into that.

And for the love of god stop giving little kids metal sparklers!!!

 

[2speedy1]

I did a wholesale order this year and here are some things to keep in mind, at least from my experience. Seems like most of the places I looked have a minimum of $1000. I think a few may have a $500 minimum depending one how early you get your order in. Fireworks are expensive to ship and while for me, it still was cheaper to go wholesale, the shipping costs does eat into those savings a bit. The wholesale sites are also going to have volume discount tiers. So if you're spending more than $2000 you'll get 10% off and then another tier around $5000 or so for another discount, so on and so forth. Also, if you're planning on having them shipped to a residential address, you'll need to pay a truck lift fee. This is basically a fee that the shipping company charges to put the pallet on their lift thingy (technical term there) to lower it and then drop the pallet in your driveway or wherever. I think this was about $70 for me. If you have a business or know somebody with a business that has a loading dock or something where they don't have to use their lift then you'll save yourself some money. Wholesale sells by the case. So while a few fireworks I got came in one per case, most of them came in multiple per case. This ranged from 2 per case to 8 per case depending on the size of the firework. This should be marked as something like 4/1 to show that it's 4 per case. So know what you're actually buying. I got my fireworks through superior fireworks because I liked a lot of their SFX brand fireworks and had I had a great experience. I think in the future I'll ask around to see if any family, friends, or neighbors want to go in on buying wholesale to take advantage of the volume discount, split some of the cases up, and to try to share the shipping and lift fee.

Best thing to do if you can is find a group to go together to buy wholesale if you are not planning on spending enough, you also can split cases with the group if you choose.

I have never had them shipped. I have always made the drive with a truck and trailer and picked up my order from wholesalers. It really helps to find other people with the same interest and also to get a relationship with the wholesalers.

Go to those wholesalers demo shoots early in the year, meet people and see what you like to add to your order.

Join a fireworks club, learn proper techniques, and safety. Pay to go to the convention and take classes and meet people. (not just going for the nightly shows)

Invest and learn about electronic firing systems, many out there are available for even consumers and soooo much safer.

And most of all dont be the idiot on the street that ruins it for everyone else.

 

[2speedy1]

You bought a pallet of fireworks? Is this just for personal use?

I used to spend about $4-5K wholesale (about 10-15k retail) on just my own show, for friends and family.