Every holiday has its own set of traditions that create memories and evoke fondness through the years. For Independence Day, that means fireworks.
“Meeting all the people that come out and seeing how excited the kids are is pretty satisfying,” said Doug Schneider, who co-owns Torpedo Joe’s Fireworks in Little Rock with his brother and sister. “The kids walk in, and you see how big their eyes get. They just can’t believe how many fireworks are in the store. The parents are just like kids, some of them. It’s just great seeing the families come out and making that tradition.”
Fireworks are one of those things everyone has experienced, from varying degrees of proximity. Almost nobody can say they have never seen at least one pyrotechnic display, even if it was just on television, since they are increasingly used during sporting events, New Year’s Eve and other non-July 4 occasions.
Co-owners Mark, left, and Doug Schneider
(Photos by DeWaine Duncan)
The number of people who have indulged in consumer-grade fireworks is undeniably smaller but still represents a wide swath of the American population. Those who did will never forget the thrill of lighting Black Cats all day or sending bottle rockets whistling skyward. When darkness fell, American neighborhoods from Cape Cod to Capistrano echoed with the sound of firecrackers, glittering with sparks and sparklers.
Schneider and entrepreneurs like him feed those family and neighborhood traditions through a highly orchestrated and impeccably timed business operation. Sixteen years ago, Torpedo Joe’s was born as a sideline to the family’s landscaping business under a cheap tent. Today, Torpedo Joe’s occupies its own 4,800-square-foot air-conditioned building that is not only more secure but a lot more comfortable for clients and staff alike.
“My brother-in-law and my brother actually started the business, and after a couple of years, the business was kind of growing a little bit,” Schneider said. “My brother and his wife were having a baby. The due date was, like, June 26, and they approached my wife, Brooke, and I and wanted to know if we wanted to come on board. My first question was, ‘How many weekends do I have to miss at the lake for this?’”
The store’s original structure was a building the family used to house their man toys, which were a pain to move in and out every year. It was air conditioned, however, which more than made up for the inconvenience. It also appealed to customers so much that four years ago, the owners built a dedicated building just for the fireworks.
It is a setup that Jamey Johnson, who ran fireworks stands from 1976 to the early 1990s, would have killed for back in the day. Johnson built a miniature fireworks empire with a partner, the late Ronald “Rick” Harkins.
Jamey Johnson and Ronald Harkins
“My wife at the time and I were youth directors for our church, and we sold fireworks during the summer as a moneymaking project,” Johnson said. “From there, Rick and I started out on a business venture of fireworks stands. Of course, we started out small back then. I think the first year we may have had six locations.”
The duo’s venture got a big break when Walmart founder Sam Walton approached the head of OK Fireworks in Tulsa, Johnson and Harkins’ supplier, with an idea that would help both companies.
“OK Fireworks Corp. was approached many years ago by Sam Walton when he got started in his Walmart stores. He was trying to come up with some motivation to get people to come into his stores during the hot summer months,” Johnson said. “He worked out a business deal where [OK Fireworks] could put one of his fireworks stands on every Walmart parking lot, provided there wasn’t a city ordinance that prohibited such. I had, at one time, 11 Walmart accounts, and I had one Sam’s, which was in Sherwood.”
The stands proved consistently popular — even launching the sales career of one Heather Baker, Harkins’ daughter, who is now president and publisher of AY Media Group — but encroaching regulations on what could be sold where and when were a consistent challenge. Yet while the official window of July 4 sales is short, Schneider said new opportunities have opened up that take a little of the seasonality out of things.
A young Heather Baker, sales girl extraordinaire, awaits customers (Photos provided by Heather Baker)
“Gender-reveal fireworks have become so popular. We get several calls a week for this gender-reveal stuff, which blows my mind. We sell a lot of wedding sparklers throughout the year. That’s become bigger than throwing rice at people these days,” he said. “Then New Year’s Eve and, of course, the Fourth of July, but another big holiday for us is Diwali, which is the Festival of Light in the Indian community. That falls around the end of October, first of November. We have started kind of catering to that market, and it’s been great.
“It’s kind of funny; when we were kids, we worked most of the time, so we might have gotten a few bottle rockets with our friends, just some small stuff like that. The stuff that we sell now, I would never have imagined I would be in a business like this. It’s just been a really good family business where we get to spend time together out there. It’s been really fun.”
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