The Future of Anchor Bay

I am a collector of Anchor Bay models but I have a "secret" that I must share, and that is that I have never paid "retail" for anyone of them. To be honest with you if I had to pay the +/- $170 apiece for'em I probably wouldn't own any. Looking at what I've paid over the past couple of years I'd say that I averaged about $80 for each....which leads me to my question.
Is there anything that HL can do to get the price "down" so that they can be more marketable....without reducing the quality?
Understand, I didn't lower the price....in most cases the dealer's just wanted to move them off the shelves....and they set the price. The five AB's that I own came from five different dealers.
I don't expect the AB's to sell in the same price-range as the LE's but....is it possible to get them down to a more affordable price....say, in the $100-135 range?
I think (IMHO) that I speak for alot of people when I say that "there isn't but so much money to go around in any given year [for HL's, AB's, etc.] and while the AB's are extremely nice, at the normal retail of about $170 ea., to alot of folks, they are simply too expensive. I'm sure this has to be a concern of HL, as well.

Maybe if you would be willing to sacrifice the glass case. Depending on the type of boat produced, maybe it would not be absolutely necessary. Or a case could be sold separately for those who want one?

I have only two and paid $50 each but would never have paid the retail for them.

I have all the Anchor Bay Boats with the exception of the Columbia and the Portsmouth. The only boat I paid retail for was the US Coast Guard boat. I won the Huron at the 1998 reunion and that's what got me started. All of the others were purchased for under $100.

Bob

I have three AB's and I paid under 50.00 for them at a stores sidewalk sale!! I couldn't pass them up at that price! Now I wish I has more, but paying the retail price- is way too much for me.

Seems to be a common theme, not paying retail for Anchor Bay's. I have two L.E.'s , but got them both for 50% off. I only collect the ones I've seen, so I don't have a desire to own all of them, but even so, I waited until I saw them on sale before buying them. $170.00 each is to rich for my blood, when you can get 2 or 2 1/2 L.E. lighthouses for the price of each ship. Eliminating the display case would save money, and if I heard right, there was talk of doing just that. I personally like the cases, because then I can display them on their own and save cabinet space, but I'm sure I could find another way if I had to.

I have two AB that I was able to pick up for 50% off. I think it is a great line and would like to see it continue. I would not object to selling the glass case seperately in order to reduce the cost, but I think the case should be made available. I display my ABs in a different room from my HLs and would like to keep all my ABs in their cases.

Jack

I paid full price for all the light ships and the coast guard cutter. But my reward is that I have all matching number “46” except for the Chesapeake.. Have no interest in the others. I have even seen the rest for 70% off and they still didn’t interest me. I even past up buying three of the rare open additions.

I love the lightships and will buy everyone that A.B. comes out with.

Daniel