Fireworks Store Won’t Open After Royal Oak Residents’ Opposition, Owner Says

A Bloomfield Hills man had prepared to open his fireworks business in a vacant space at the corner of East Lincoln and Campbell until residents opposed.

That space, previously a pizzeria, lies about 100 feet from a residential area, the Daily Tribune reported.

“We decided against doing it,” said Nate Jaddou, a co-owner of Fresh Approach, a grocery store across the street that owns the space.  “I felt like it was upsetting a lot of my customers. A lot of them were saying they weren’t going to shop here anymore if (the fireworks store) opened.”

On average 200 people are sent to the emergency room daily due to fireworks-related injuries around the 4th of July, according to the Oakland Press.

Michigan law allows fireworks to be sold in an effort to create more jobs and increase tax revenue.

Local officials also opposed the fireworks store.

“If it’s true, I'm relieved, Mayor Jim Ellison said. “They haven’t told us, so it’s going away quietly.”

The store would’ve been open for only four weeks out of the year and would have cost Jaddou $25,000 in renovation and pavement costs.

Ellison doesn’t expect this to be the last time a fireworks business wants to open in the city.

“Hypothetically, there is going to be a next one,” Ellison said,” and until the state law changes we are going to have to deal with it.”

“Until other communities start running into problems like we have, there probably isn’t going to be any movement on changing (state) law.”

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