The collectibles business started tanking about 2000 and slid slowly downhill from there.

I think the greatest problems were

1. The economy (who has 'disposable income')?

2. The collectors who ran out of space for more pieces

3. All the most famous lighthouses had been made and people lacked interest in replicas of lights they would probably never visit.

Don took things over and did a good job of running the business with help from Harry Hine and Tony Constantino playing key roles. Under Don's leadership, the quality continued to improve. Prices rose due to the costs of raw materials and manufacturing costs in China going up.

The 1-2-3 reasons stated above just couldn't be overcome. Collectibles stores closed, collectible lines are down to less than a handful.

All in my opinion, of course.