Phantom Fireworks moving into former New Kensington Rite Aid building

A former Rite Aid in New Kensington is becoming a year-round fireworks store.

Phantom Fireworks plans to open its store in the former pharmacy at 700 Stevenson Blvd. by mid-June in time for this year’s Fourth of July season, said Michael Podolsky, deputy general counsel for the Youngstown, Ohio-based company.

Phantom, which bills itself as the largest retailer of consumer fireworks in the country, has nearly 90 stores, which it calls showrooms, in 15 states that are open all year, Podolsky said.

There are 12 Phantom Fireworks locations in Pennsylvania. The only one in the Pittsburgh area, in a former Toys R Us on Donohoe Road in Hempfield, is among its largest at 36,000 square feet.

At 11,000 square feet, the New Kensington store will be about average in size, Podolsky said.

A location along Old William Penn Highway in Monroeville closed last year. Podolsky said they plan to relocate that store but have not found a location yet.

The New Kensington Rite Aid was one of nine in Southwestern Pennsylvania that the company announced in October it would close after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The building was listed for sale in January for $2.5 million.

The building’s sale closed in April with a listed price of about $1.9 million, according to Westmoreland County records.

“We are happy to see another new business move into our city, and we’re glad that a new business is moving in to the building so soon after Rite Aid closed,” Mayor Tom Guzzo said.

The location is across from New Kensington-Arnold’s Valley Junior-Senior High School.

“We were sad to say goodbye when our Rite Aid closed, but our job of teaching students remains the same regardless of who or what commerce takes their place,” district Superintendent Chris Sefcheck said. “We will be great neighbors while continuing to develop students who make great decisions for safe academic and personal growth.”

Under state law, only those 18 and older are allowed to handle and buy fireworks. Those who enter the store have to check in at a registration area, which includes scanning a driver’s license to confirm age, Podolsky said. No one younger than 18 can be in the store unless accompanied by someone over 18.

The former pharmacy was attractive to Phantom because Pennsylvania requires fireworks stores to be in freestanding buildings, meaning they can’t move into storefronts in strip plazas, Podolsky said.

“It kind of just fits the area that we feel doesn’t really have a store. It’s an area, we think, based on what we saw from our Monroeville store, we would have customers and even some employees from up in that area,” he said. “For where we’ve located ourselves around the Pittsburgh area, we see this as a nice business opportunity.”

Phantom was issued a construction permit for the building, said Scott Chermak, a principal and building official with Professional Code Services, a third-party inspection agency for the city.

Phantom’s use of the building did not require any review or approval from city council or the city’s planning commission or zoning hearing board, city engineer Tony Males said.

While Phantom’s use of the building is allowed, the company will have to do “some fairly extensive renovations inside,” Males said.

That work will include upgrades to the building’s sprinklers, electrical and fire alarms, and new restrooms, Chermak said.

Electrical work is needed, in part, because all of the outlets have to be explosion proof given the nature of what will be stored there, Males said.

To be ready for this year’s Fourth of July, Phantom is focusing on the work that must be done for the store to open, with any remaining work being done after the holiday, Podolsky said.

The store will have four full-time employees, but Podolsky said that can increase to 50 or more during the Fourth of July season, which runs from about Memorial Day to shortly after Independence Day.

Offseason hours are generally 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. In the run-up to July 4, Phantom stores expand their hours to open at 8 a.m. and stay open until 10 p.m., or as late as to 1 a.m., depending on local limitations.