WINDHAM – More than two years after the legalization of consumer fireworks in Maine, Windham is now home to a fireworks retail store, Pyro City.

Steve Marson, the owner of Farmingdale-based Central Maine Pyrotechnics, opened the store at 399 Roosevelt Trail on Thursday, May 22.

Marson, a former construction manager at Bath Iron Works, has been quickly expanding his business since consumer fireworks were legalized in January 2012, opening retail stores in Manchester, Edgecomb, Winslow, Ellsworth and Presque Isle. Pyro City in Windham is the 19th consumer fireworks store in Maine, he said.

Prior to legalization, Central Maine Pyrotechnics, which was founded in 1987, provided display fireworks to municipalities throughout Maine for events, including Windham’s Summerfest fireworks display. Marson said he has sold fireworks to several other Lakes Region towns as well.

“I chose Windham because I wanted to be on the 302 corridor to the Lakes Region,” he said. “We do all the major displays out in that area pretty much during the Fourth of July and throughout the summer in Casco, Raymond, Naples, Bridgton, Limington. I know there’s a lot of volume of traffic on this road. It’s all about being in high-volume traffic areas.”

Pyro City is located in a 40-by-76-foot facility just south of the routes 302 and 202 rotary that had been previously occupied by the Interstate Battery Shop and the Civil Arms gun dealer. Marson said he opened just in advance of Memorial Day weekend in order to catch the early-summer traffic heading north.

“Our whole key was to get open for people coming to open up their camps on the lakes and stuff, that they would know we’re here,” he said.

Pyro City is open from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays and 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. Eventually, Marson said, the business will operate from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. seven days a week. During the off season, Pyro City will be open five days a week, he said.

The store sells a variety of fireworks, ranging from 99-cent “hens” to a $675 package known as “The Godfather.”

“We sell everything that’s allowed by the state of Maine to have for consumer fireworks, everything from fountains right up to 500-gram cakes, finale racks, 3-inch tubes, reloadables,” Marson said. “We have it all. We have everything that’s available here.”

Eric Minot, a contractor and fireworks aficionado from Casco, heard about Pyro City on the radio. On Thursday afternoon, he examined the Black Cat color smoke balls.

“I love it,” Minot said. “I’m a kid in a toy store.”

Minot said he planned to return on a weekly basis.

“I’ll be here every Friday when I get paid to stock up,” he said.

Tony Cataldi, a Windham firefighter, said he had purchased fireworks at Central Maine Pyrotechnics’ Edgecomb location. On Thursday, he purchased two “All-Ins.”

“It’s very, very good,” Cataldi said, referring to the selection. “There’s pretty much anything you could want.”

Marson plans to hire two full-time employees for the store and up to eight seasonal employees. He hopes to hire Windham residents exclusively.

“My philosophy is you get the best of the best when you’re doing your work locally,” he said. “All my stores have people working in them that are from that municipality that they live in. It’s not like they (have) to drive 50 miles to work.”

Marson said Pyro City employees will be paid between $9 to $17 an hour, with two weeks of vacation time and five personal days.

Opening Pyro City in Windham has been a long-term ambition, Marson said.

“When they passed the law, I saw an opportunity to put people to work and open stores and my goal was to open six stores the first year,” he said. “We ran out of money after five. And we’ve been two years looking for a piece of land down here in Windham. This became available, and here we are.”

Central Maine Pyrotechnics owner Steve Marson and employee Robert Libby show off fireworks on Pyro City’s opening day, May 22.