Now I have a question here. Way back when HL was sold by the Youngers, wasn't the new company called Lighthouse Marketing or some such thing? Even though located in Maine and sort of affiliated with LHD weren't we told it wasn't exactly the same company? So if that's the case are we premature in assuming that Harbour Lights is a goner too? Sure LHD was the largest dealer and maybe their demise is enough to kill off the line. Or was this really, after the sale, really all the same outfit?
Yes, Mombo -- two different corporations. Two different physical locations. Both companies plus the catalog operation owned 100% by Don Devine.
The warehouse/offices of HL are an albatross around the company's neck. They have been trying to sell the facility for some time and MIGHT move to a smaller/cheaper place.
LHD does NOT own the buildings from which it operates. The owner of that property is trying to sell it for $3 Million. From at least one report here on the CF, the store has very, very few products on display. On LHD's website, they only list 13 books, 38 clothing items and 42 home decor items in addition to 379 HL products. They did not send out a Holiday catalog this year.
However, LHD has been the #1 seller of HLs for many years. LHD's discounting of HLs (and the economy in general) has caused many other dealers to give up. So, if LHD goes out of business, who will retail Harbour Lights?
As I've noted in a previous post, production of the Winter 2012 releases has not been ordered yet.
Some speculative possiblities:
1. HL could 'hibernate' offering direct mail order sales of the present products from a smaller building. Should the economy improve in a year or 5 years, new products might be ordered to be sold directly.
2. Continued discounting of inventory by LHD to raise capital.
3. A Bankruptcy is NOT necessarily in the future. HL owns its inventory. I doubt it has any debt. Don is probably financing short falls of income for operations personally. This might include the mortgage payment on the HL warehouse/offices and the rent on the LHD store.
