“When people come in, their eyes brighten up to see that our stock has not diminished. They’re happy to see us,” said Ed Boling, with Bimbo’s Fireworks. That’s because of a nationwide fireworks shortage.

Boling explains it as a snowball effect from the pandemic. “Everything is more or less exacerbated from China. The factories were shut down for a while. The shipping industry, again, astronomical for the freight,” Boling said. It’s being felt around the country and in Lenoir City.

Boling says pricing has gone up 20 to 30 percent. Plus, some supplies are impacted. “A couple of items that we’re a little short on are bottle rockets and Roman candles this year. Although we do have plenty of Roman candles. We still have several types of bottle rockets, but that would be our two main shortages that we’re experiencing right now,” said Boling.

But if you take a look around Bimbo’s Fireworks, you can see the shelves are not bare. That’s why Boling isn’t concerned.

“I’m not really worried about the shortage because we are good,” he said. “We have enough to maintain all the way through the Fourth of July.”

Another plus for the store is that they don’t usually place orders until September or October, but this time around, they ordered fireworks a full year in advance. Bimbo’s Fireworks is open 24 hours a day and located on Highway 321 in Lenoir City.