UTAH RETAILERS GET MORE BUCKS FOR THE BANG ON JULY FOURTH

MARK HAMSTRA

SANDY, Utah -- Retailers expect July to be another explosive month for fireworks in the Beehive State, one of the few states in which the recreational products comprise a strong seasonal category for grocers.

"We do tons of business in fireworks," said Grant Blanchard, general merchandise manager, Macey's, based here.

The nine-unit grocery chain is among the state's leaders in selling the incendiary devices that people in many states in the South and West legally enjoy as part of their backyard Fourth of July celebrations.

While several states allow fireworks to be sold in retail stores, Utah has an especially strong season because it permits their sale throughout most of July as residents there celebrate Pioneer Day on July 24.

"It's a lot smaller season outside of Utah," said Gordon Thompson, general merchandise seasonal category manager, Associated Food Stores, Salt Lake City.

He said most supermarkets in Utah seem to take advantage of the long selling season, holding their own against the vendors that pop up each year in parking lots and other roadside locales.

At Macey's, Blanchard said the stores merchandise the fireworks in an 8-foot-by-8-foot gondola placed in a lobby area in front of the general merchandise department, and on two endcaps. The stores carry about 30 stockkeeping units of individual fireworks items and two varieties of bundled assortments, priced at $39.99 and $19.99. The bundled "value packs" are advertised as being half off the traditional price, Blanchard said.

The biggest Macey's stores can be expected to do $50,000 to $60,000 in fireworks business in July, he said.

The stores are required to obtain a special permit and must have their displays inspected by a fire marshal each season. In addition to the June-July selling season, Utah retailers also are permitted to sell fireworks from Dec. 20 through Jan. 2, and on the 15 days before and on Chinese New Year.

Consumers are only allowed to purchase certain types of fireworks -- generally those that spray sparks are OK, while those that explode are not. The state also forbids products that "have effects higher than 15 feet," such as Roman candles, or travel on the ground more than 10 feet laterally.

Still, cone fountains, ground spinners and smoke devices are hot with Utah consumers. When called by SN, a clerk at a unit of Harmon's Supermarkets, Salt Lake City, said the store had "two aisles of fireworks" and expected a brisk business. He suggested that the best time to buy would be toward the end of the selling season, when selection would be limited but prices would be marked down to half off.

Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, Bethesda, Md., noted that 41 states now permit fireworks sales to consumers, with Connecticut being the most recent to allow the practice. She also mentioned that Kroger stores in Ohio and Wal-Mart stores in many states sell fireworks.

A few calls to stores in other states revealed a much less enthusiastic outlook for the fireworks season than that expressed by Utah retailers, despite the fact that a relatively wet spring has deterred officials from issuing bans on fireworks sales.

Several supermarkets in Texas said they offered no fireworks, while some Albertson's stores in Florida said they had a limited assortment available for a few days prior to the July Fourth holiday.