Motown Fireworks Owner Hopes Business Will Boom

Ronnie Babbie has always had a fascination with things that go "boom."

"Ever since I was like, four years old," said Babbie, who opened Motown Fireworks on June 19 at 1390 Walton Blvd. in Rochester Hills. "I've always loved lighting things on fire. I'm a dude; I like pyrotechnics and guns."

The West Bloomfield resident began setting up shop this year in Rochester Hills after scouring the local firework merchant scene and finding there were no other brick-and-mortar fireworks shops in the immediate area. 

Last year, fireworks consumers and resellers in Michigan began to see the effects of the 2011 Michigan Fireworks Safety Act, which allows the sale and possession of consumer fireworks, lifting a ban that previously had consumers importing then-illegal fireworks from Ohio and Indiana. 

Babbie said he hopes to make his store a year-round fixture in Rochester Hills and not just a seasonal business.

Already, Babbie is seeing high demand for his products. While he worked to get his store up to code before his June 19 opening, he said customers would see his large "Fireworks" storefront sign and try to convince him to sell his fireworks before his store was even opened for business. 

With the early enthusiasm, Babbie said he hopes the demand will carry through to the Fourth of July.

"It kind of got me happy that people were already getting excited about the Fourth so early," he said. 

More fireworks:

• Find Fireworks for 4th of July in 2013 Around Southeast Michigan
• Rochester Hills' Festival of the Hills Fireworks Set for Wednesday