LENOIR CITY, Tenn. (WATE) — We have all noticed some items are costing more right now: gas, groceries and now fireworks.
It comes with less than a week until the Fourth of July.
WATE 6 On Your Side’s Elizabeth Kuebel visited Lenoir City’s Bimbo’s Fireworks. There, supervisor Ed Boling pointed out examples of more costly items.
“These were $4.99, they’re a dozen artificial satellites. Now you get two packs for $6.99, they did go up two dollars,” he said, comparing the item to last year. “The dozen pack of small Roman candles, shoot 10 shots a piece, 120 shots here, for $8.99 last year, this year they’re $9.99 for two.”
Boling said shipping costs are to blame.
“The freight cost is astronomical. It’s gotten completely out of hand, and we’re still waiting for that to level off,” he said. “The prices because of freight have gone up, probably in the 20 to 30 percent range, unfortunately. That has to be passed on to the consumer.”
Luckily for Boling, he said he hasn’t noticed that making an impact on business.
“I’m not minding a couple bucks here or there,” one customer said.
Still, a higher price isn’t great news when you’re paying, but Boling says there is a silver lining this year. Supply is not an issue. Remember, last year, we told you the shop was feeling the impact of the nationwide fireworks shortage.
“We ordered many more containers because of last year’s problem, it became problematic because we couldn’t get them. This year we upped all of our containers thinking we’d get half of them, but we ended up getting all of them,” he said. “We’re not trying to elevate the prices on our end. Most people that come in, they understand it. You have a few here and there that will say your prices are very high. My rebuttal is have you bought gas lately, have you bought groceries lately?”
Boling is preparing for bigger crowds of customers starting Thursday evening.