Why This Iconic Summer Item Might Be Difficult to Find This Year

The shortage could affect everyone's summer celebrations.

As we are starting to come out of the COVID pandemic, we've all experienced an item shortage at one time or another. Think about that trip to the grocery store last year when you couldn't find toilet paper, paper towels or Lysol wipes anywhere. The shelves were bare. We've had a quick gas shortage that caused gas prices to rise everywhere and now we can possibly have to add another item that might be hard to find this summer to the list of shortages.

According to CBS 4, fireworks might be hard to find as we approach the 4th of July this year. The warning of a firework shortage is coming from sellers in Minneapolis, who are saying they haven't seen anything like this is in 23 years. Cele Rasmussen who co-owns Fireworks City said, "Buy early because the stock is short, I’d say we’re short by about 30%."

Rasmussen also told CBS that, "There’s gonna be an increase in prices just because shipping has doubled since last year." Shipping seems to be the main reason for the expected shortage with numerous shipping containers being stuck overseas. Rasmussen said it’s costing much more to get them here which will lead to higher prices for consumers.

As of today, it's hard to tell if the shortage will affect us in New York when it comes to buying fireworks this year at any of the grocery stores, CVS stores or firework stands that pop up all over the Hudson Valley, but several vendors have already announced that customers should expect a 10% to 20% price increase on some fireworks this year.