Steve Marson only keeps his Pyro City Maine fireworks stores open between January and May so he doesn’t lose his employees. Among the four locations — in Manchester, Winslow, Farmington and Presque Isle — he said he probably gets about 75 customers a week in the off-season.

At one point, Marson had eight stores, but as more cities and towns adopted ordinances prohibiting or restricting the use and sale of consumer fireworks, some weren’t busy enough to keep open — like in Windham, which since 2016 has only allowed them around the Fourth of July and New Year’s.

“We went from making money to breaking even,” he said about that store, which has since closed along with locations in Edgecomb, Ellsworth and Skowhegan.

Marson, whose other company, Central Maine Pyrotechnics, puts on the majority of professional fireworks displays in the state, said that the retail stores used to be the more lucrative side of his business, but that’s since flipped.

“It’s very obvious that the newness has worn off,” he said.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office’s annual report on consumer fireworks, presented in March to the Legislature’s public safety committee, said there are 15 fireworks stores in Maine, down from a high of 27 — a decline that began around 2018, six years after the use and sale of consumer fireworks became legal in Maine. That year, 2012, 16 stores opened.

Marson said even more have closed in recent months, and by his count, there now are only 12.

Total sales, which had climbed to $6.1 million in 2017, began to decline at the same time as the stores, but then saw an uptick during the pandemic, peaking at $8.1 million in 2021 and dropping back down to $6.2 million last year.

Those figures, however, also reflect the changing costs of goods. While Marson said stores did see an increase in business when public fireworks displays were canceled, at the same time, his shipping costs quadrupled and, though they’ve since fallen, are still significantly higher than they were before the pandemic.

This year’s figures will reflect a new added cost — from tariffs.

Marson gets all his fireworks from China and has had to raise his prices as a result. For example, one assortment of fireworks, called The Beast, went from $399 to $599 — an additional deterrent for any customers who’ve seen their disposable income squeezed.

But right now, it’s boom time. Marson said he does 75% of his business between June 26 and July 6, not to mention the 121 fireworks shows throughout New England his company is putting on, including Portland’s.

It’s also around this time that the majority of fireworks-related injuries occur, and though the Fire Marshal’s Office says its historic data isn’t comprehensive, the 17 injuries reported last year — seven of them in July — were the most on record.

Because you can’t legislate that.