Extremely disappointing experience - poor customer service On June 29, 2025, my son and I visited Krazy Kaplan's at the 179th St. location in Hammond, Indiana. What started as an enjoyable visit turned into a frustrating and uncomfortable experience that left us both stunned. After spending about an hour carefully picking out our items, we went to the front counter. Two young employees were there, both distracted by their phones and visibly annoyed when we politely asked if they were open. One of them, a young blonde girl, began reading off prices to the other--incorrectly identifying two items from a clearly marked "5 for $20" deal as 2 for $14.95. I tried to clarify that those items were clearly marked as part of the promotion, even offering to show her the signage. She responded with a rude attitude, saying, "I stock the shelves." When I insisted, she became visibly agitated, face turning red, and snapped, "Do you want them or not?" before tossing the items aside. My son and I were completely taken aback. My son calmly said we will just pick out two different items, but noted that this wasn't the way to treat customers. I then approached another employee on the sales floor, who was kind, professional, and helpful. He, along with two other staff members who happened to be restocking the section where we found the 5 for $20 items, confirmed that those items were indeed part of the promotion. However, when I returned to the counter with the helpful employee, another man--possibly a manager--interrupted me as I was attempting to explain the earlier poor service. Rather than listening, he told me to "calm down," even though I was speaking calmly and not raising my voice. He then told us we could leave the store. This wasn't about a few extra dollars--it was about how the female associate treated customers in their store. The way the male employee responded to the situation was unprofessional and completely inappropriate. At that point, we chose to take our business elsewhere. It's unfortunate because the store seemed to have decent deals, but customer service is everything, and this location fell far short. To make matters worse, don't expect a follow-up: the stores contact us on their website doesn't work, phone calls go unanswered, and voicemails are not returned. Bottom line: If you care about respectful, courteous service, I suggest avoiding this location. Hopefully, management takes this seriously, because customers deserve better. read more

MASTER EXPLODER Roman candle supply running low? Veer off I-94 and restock at this timeworn fireworks outlet. Through the mystical powers of German persuasion, I was able to convince my wife that it was worth stopping at Krazy Kaplans on our way home from a wedding in the Hoosier state. "But we don't need fireworks now", she said, unaware that it's my duty as an American male/husband/head of house to have celebratory explosives on hand at. all. times. Krazy Kaplans has bright yellow billboards sprinkled along the interstate that proudly advertise 6 different locations in northwest Indiana: three in Hammond, and one each in Dyer, Whiting, and LaPorte. The location we visited appears to get the most foot traffic and at nearly 25,000 square feet I'd venture a guess it's one of the larger stores. For a place that's clearly visible from the highway, it's kind of a hassle to get to. You'll need to turn on the southbound exit for Cline Ave, then wraparound 179th St (a frontage road in bullsh*t condition). Drive past the strip club and a few shady motels, dodge untold potholes and eventually you'll spot the yellow and blue flags. Walking in, you're greeted by a distinctly musty odor and/or a college kid behind the counter. The warehouse has impossibly tall ceilings, long dormant aisles, huge, uncovered bins filled with a mélange of sparklers & smoke bombs. Black Cats, M-80's, M-100's, M-1000's....is there such thing as an M-1,000,000, an M-1M?!? Who am I kidding, that's just a stick of dynamite. We saw some big-ticket items like the massive rolls of firecrackers (ones you'd find at Chinese New Year that explode for hours) as well as some MEGApacks for $1,700. I suppose if you're buying on behalf of a village or a really rich friend, that's not a bad idea, though I have to imagine most customers stick to stuff priced in the fifties. Almost every shelf was marked as 'buy one get one' with select items being 3-for-1 and a few dinky things (bottle rockets, poppers) marked at 6-for-1. We picked up a couple large party packs (2 for $60), multi-shot mortars (3 for $30) and half a dozen roman candles (6 for $3). A pretty decent haul for just under $100 should last us until 2023. * TL;DR * Nothing says 'MURRICA like blowing up stuff Made in China. Easy to spot but challenging to actually drive to, Krazy Kaplans in Hammond is conveniently near the Illinois border. The place could use a major cleaning -- we walked out covered in a thin layer of gunpowder grime -- and I seriously doubt they sanitized the shopping carts, or anything in here for that matter. To call the inside of the outlet store "filthy" wouldn't be a stretch. Some folks think Krazy Kaplans is a ripoff, others think their stuff is a steal. It's best to shop during the off season (i.e. outside of the 8 weeks leading up to July 4th) for maximum discounts and special offers like the ridiculous "buy one, get six free" promo. I'd recommend stocking up once every 3-5 years and call it a day. As for reliability of their boomers, if my next review is for an ambulance ride, then you'll know the answer is 'not great'. read more

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Passing through headed home, we decided to stop by Krazy Kaplans Fireworks. Mistake. It's a warehouse filled with over priced fireworks. Most looked old. A lot of the fireworks didn't have a wick to begin with. read more

Good Afternoon, My Nephew was an employee at one of your locations (Calumet Ave in Hammond IN)until this morning around 9:30 on 7.2.20. The manager (Angie) daughter made some racist remarks to not only my Nephew but 11 other young black African American boys. This is unacceptable and all 12 young men walked out related to this form of racism, this should have not happened. Could you please inform me how this will be handle or even addressed. I have reached out to you all via email and on your social media outlets and still no response. read more

This place has billboard after billboard along I-80, sometimes two or three sitting right next to each other. How could I not stop? Maybe it used to be Halloween costumes...not sure about that. But when I went in there it was wall to wall to ceiling rows of fireworks. Everything from those little white snappy things that you thrown on the sidewalk to smoke bombs to....everything. Rockets, spark shower things, tubes and little cannons and partial sticks of dynamite, etc. etc. This place had "buy one get three free" AND "buy one, get six free" specials. EVERYTHING else I saw in there except for one item was 2 for 1. I mean everything. By the way, the guy in the picture is not a good representation of Krazy Kaplan. I saw the real guy in the parking lot and he seemed pretty normal. Time to go blow some stuff up! read more

It's a nice sized store with tons and tons of fireworks! All the deals were pretty great. Only spent about $100 for a lot of stuff. Most of the deals were buy 1 get 1 free, but for the repeaters and more expensive things the deals were even greater. My only thing that I didn't love is that they didn't have the greatest selection of firecrackers. read more

Think 50-100 foot high ceilings, a warehouse with 6 rows (40yards wide) of shelving filled 7'feet high with fireworks. This is the place for a family and the novice. You want a bunch of stuff that goes boom, crackle, pakow with blasts of color, you haven't a clue what to get and these guys can offer you a solution. Decent deals, combo packs, they offer a bunch of loose items of low quality and of the better stuff - 3 for the price of 1. (Which really, it's the price of all 3 items. Buy 1 get 2 free, 3 for 1, it's all the same. If it was really free: at checkout if they dropped something in your bag without a charge, that's free. Usually they might give you free "punks" Which are long brown colored incense looking sticks used as safety when lighting fireworks. Also, some places allow you to negotiate the price or they may give you some freebies if you spend a lot of $$$.) If you are a novice ask for help. Dads and Moms not in the know, please, please, ask for help. Buying the loose piece's are crappy quality, the same money can be spent on something decent. If you go the route of buying a combo pack, look inside and see if everything looks good. It's just like buying vegetables. Also, do some research or ask questions about them. Most fireworks tell you what to expect on the caution label. There's a way to tell if it goes boom, crackle, smoke or color. There are quite a few items that are misleading. This store isn't one of my favorite places, I think its overpriced, some items are misleading and the combo's aren't the best value. But, its not hard to find and a short drive from the exit ramp. read more

Got some fireworks form them and now I understand why it's called krazy kaplans you will find plastic spent garbage all over your yard and your neighbor too for years it's not just krazy it's stupid. One of the rockets defected and fell over and nearly killed us, bad products don't do it! read more

I'm not sure why It's called Fireworks Outlets on here, because though they have Fireworks stores, this one is actually called "Krazy Kaplan's Costume Castles" because it's a place for Halloween costumes, or just costumes in general. Personally, I feel the odds of there ever being another Halloween store even slightly as great as "Wayne's Trickshop" in Downtown Hammond was, are very slim. That place was awesome, and though Kaplans is huge, Wayne's Trickshop was far superior and it was a tiny store. It was just the areas Halloween store for years and years, and it cannot be topped. Crazy Kaplans is huge though, so if you have the 40-70 bucks to spend on a costume you'd probably find something there you would like. read more

The downfall first: The workers were not helpful at all. I'm thinking Krazy Kaplans Firework outlet is some huge ass warehouse store. Pull up to the exit/ parking lot and it's some small ass hut looking store. Everything is packed into one little store and no where to really maneuver around. The 2 girls who were cashiering this morning when I went in were very ignorant and rude. My friend accidentally dropped her garbage out of her pocket and the girl tells the other cashier. OMG, That bitch just dropped something on the floor she better pick that shit up. Uhm Hello, don't you know I'm with that bitch. lol seriously they need to clean up their attitude and learn to not talk that smack in front of their once a year paying customers cause it might just be their friend that their talking shit about. The good of the store: Buy one get 6 free on some of the fireworks that they have. Or buy one get one free. A ok amount for $40.00. read more

Prices were high compared to other stores. BUY 1 GET 6 FREE...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Why not buy 1 get 1000 free and charge 10,000 times the price. So many billboards, now I know how he pays for them. Prices are high and they trick you to get in with the free fireworks...but you pay for them in the end. Stay AWAY!!! read more

They definitely have a huge selection but we shopped at jakes fireworks and phantom fireworks as well and the prices at jakes were by far the lowest. My son didn't buy as many at jakes because krazy kaplans claimed to have "the lowest prices around, guaranteed" we asked the owner Greg how he could say this and not back it up and he replied with "that's competition for you". I say, it's false advertising!! read more

Too high priced!!! How do you think they pay for the 500 billboards within a 5 mile radius lol. Forget about what the signs say too, they do not offer true buy get one free or the best ones Buy 1 get 5 free HAHAHAHA what that really means is when you buy a pack of sky rockets that come 6 to a pack you buy 1 rocket and get the others free hahaha except the 1 rocket cost $7.99. What a joke. read more

Huge variety of fireworks. Workers were really nice and helpful. Good locations easy to find. Wish they could be a little bit cheaper.