Fireworks buyers don’t care about the ban on lighting off: ‘This is what you get when rules are not logical’ | Domestic

Fireworks enthusiasts can now go to 918 places. In 2019, there were still 1,387, according to figures requested from all 29 regional environmental services that have to supervise. Even in most sixteen villages and towns where a lighting ban now applies, shops continue to sell fireworks. Only Heemstede has a ban on cutting and no longer has a sales point.

Last year, corona was a breaking point for many retailers because fireworks were not allowed to be sold for two years in a row. Several entrepreneurs decided not to start again. According to the Pyrotechniek Trade Association, the lack of a successor is the most common reason that sellers quit. It is also hardly profitable for many smaller shops to sell fireworks due to the mandatory, expensive safety features.

Larger outlets are actually growing. “I expect that another 20 percent of all sales points will be dropped in the coming years,” says spokesperson Leo Groeneveld of the trade association.

The story continues below the map with the number of points of sale per municipality…

The sale of fireworks starts on Thursday, a day earlier than normal because fireworks are not allowed to be sold on Sundays. Even in most sixteen villages and towns where a lighting ban now applies, shops continue to sell fireworks. While retailers here saw a significant dip in the number of customers last year, old times seem to be reviving, as the number of orders has already increased significantly.

While national fireworks sales broke all records last year with 110 million euros, fireworks retailer and importer Kees Makkelie did not pop the champagne corks due to historic turnover at his Haarlem branch. After two years of corona and a national ban on cutting off New Year’s Eve, they were finally allowed to sell decorative pots again last year. Only then did the municipality of Haarlem come up with a ban on cutting. “The result was that I lost 30 percent of my turnover last year,” says Makkelie.

The Haarlemmer is certainly not the only one who saw fireworks sales collapse last year. Sales also fell sharply at some Amsterdam retailers. Owner Johan Witbaard of the party shop of the same name in the capital saw half as many customers at the counter. A cross-cutting ban also applies in this city. “Now we are not sure whether this was only due to this measure or because people were not allowed to light anything for two years due to corona. But the striking thing was that sales actually increased at our branch in Hilversum.”

How different the situation is now. At the start of fireworks sales today, Makkelie from Haarlem has already sold 8 percent more than last year with online orders alone. They also see sales picking up again in Amsterdam. “Presale orders are back to pre-corona levels. And then single sales have yet to start,” says Witbaard.

Makkelie has the feeling that many people in Haarlem dutifully followed the new rules last year, but saw that they were ignored en masse. “I live just outside this city, but it was enormous what was still being chipped there. I suspect that many people now think: I want to be able to do that again.”

Witbaard from Amsterdam also hears from customers who have already ordered that they have noticed that there is no enforcement after all. “Last year there may have been some fear about how strictly the municipality would enforce the rules. That was almost zero, so people are now just doing it again. Just like cycling without lights. That’s actually not allowed, but people do it en masse here.”

According to Witbaard, this was to be expected. He cannot explain it to anyone that he is allowed to sell fireworks to Amsterdam residents, but no one is allowed to set them off in that city. “But in Amstelveen, which is just a stone’s throw away. This is what you get when rules are not logical.”