Roel Villanueva was enthralled with fireworks as a boy growing up in Mercedes.

The Mexican-style palomas were his favorites, the triangle shaped firework known for packing a punch with their concentrated amounts of gunpowder and being loud enough to trigger car alarms in neighborhoods. Villanueva was just shy of 10 years of age when he didn’t flee the scene fast enough from a paloma ready to go off. It went off at a too close distance to his right ear.

“I lost 20 percent of my hearing in that ear,” he said. “Did that deter me from my love of fireworks? Absolutely not.”

Villanueva has a day job. He is a State Farm Insurance agent in Pharr. The love of fireworks, however, has never left him. The sight and sounds of them, even the smell has always been an allure for him. Villanueva recalls that he “still had the bug” when turning 18 years old, showing that his fireworks fix wasn’t just a thrill from his youth. In 2006, he began selling fireworks from a small booth in front of his home in south Mercedes.

“It was a little bit of a thing to support my habit,” Villanueva said. 

Sales increased incrementally through the years during the busiest fireworks-selling time of the year – the ending days of December leading to New Year’s Day. Sales are less brisk but still robust for the Fourth of July. The year 2020 was a watershed time for sales with a tripling over 2019, Villanueva said. Sales would then double in 2021 over the previous year. 

The ambition of opening a storefront for his supply of fireworks took root during that time.

“It started getting bigger and bigger, with the variety and prices I offer, and then I thought, ‘You know what? This is possible,'” he said.

Going Big

On Dec. 20, just in time for New Year’s, Villanueva opened Killer V Fireworks & Pyrotechnics. The location is within an easy view of Expressway 83 on 432 N. Michigan in Mercedes.

He was exuberant on that day amongst the ribbon-cutting ceremonies provided by the Mercedes Chamber of Commerce. Opening a business in his hometown, “means the world to me,” he said. Villanueva is a member of a board overseeing the Mercedes Economic Development Board, so opening a business in his hometown shows he is willing “to put my money where my mouth is. Here’s what I’m doing. What are you doing?”

Villanueva’s call to arms of sort to others to invest in Mercedes was secondary on grand opening day to going through what his spacious fireworks store has to offer. He has more than 700 unique items, he says, 20 different types of Roman candles and the same amount of variety of canister shells. Mini-viewer screens were available throughout his store as customers could see videos of what individual fireworks can do by scanning a bar code and taking in the flashes and colors of Villanueva’s products.

“I never dreamed I’d go this big,” he said.

Keeping Busy

Beyond his fireworks store, Villanueva has become state licensed in pyrotechnics, meaning he can stage large firework shows in addition to doing the same on a smaller scale for birthday parties, graduations and weddings. 

It keeps him busy in addition to his insurance business and in the months between the designated weeks, Villanueva is allowed to sell fireworks as defined by state law. What began as a fascination in his youth to fireworks that continued to dabbling in the business in his early adult years has now become an active part of his work life. Villanueva couldn’t be happier about it for himself and his community.

“This is my town,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to do something like this in my hometown.”