The new TNT Fireworks store will be opened in the former K-Mart store next to the Rave Theater in East Ridge.• Name: TNT Fireworks Supercenter
• Location: 482 McBrien Road, next to The Rave
• Status: The building, which should be complete in June, is undergoing an extensive renovation to prepare it to hold more fireworks than any other store in the state, said David Beattie, vice president of TNT Fireworks. The company will use about 20,000 square feet of the 120,000-square-foot structure to house and sell more than $1 million worth of fireworks. Originally built as a K-Mart, the renovated building will contain new firewalls and a heftier sprinkler system. Workers are also adding additional exits for safety. "When we're done with this, this will be one of the safest fireworks facilities in America," said Beattie.
• Price: The renovation will cost "a few hundred thousand dollars," he said.
• Features: More than $1 million worth of fireworks will be stacked across the building, and all of it will be visible to anyone over 6-feet tall. That's due to regulations that limit how high the fireworks may be piled. The interior will be white to allow the colorfully painted fireworks themselves to be the star of the show. Outside, a stucco wall will support a large TNT Fireworks sign with red highlights. "It won't be your typical fireworks metal-building looking thing," Beattie said. "It will look more like a Books-A-Million." In fact, the group that owns TNT Fireworks also founded Books-A-Million, he said. The store will carry "every kind of legal firework that is available in America," he added.
• Company: TNT Fireworks is the largest fireworks distributor in America, Beattie said. "If it's legal, we're selling it in that state."
• Contractor: Chattanoo-ga-based DBS Corp.