Here is my 2 cents,
E-bay and the Internet!
Back when HL got off the ground E-bay wasn't around and the Internet was still getting off the ground. There is not many items that couldn't be bought at a discount off E-bay or from a web site. Nobody needs a store front to operate a business this way, but why would anybody want to buy off the Internet? Hmmm.. Lets see, no store front, no rent, limited overhead, prices can be discounted and still make a profit. How can a store carrying HL compete? It's difficult, good customer service, customer loyalty, impulse purchases. But a person who has a limited amount to spend has to choose to pay full retail and have a smaller collection or buy discounted pieces online blindly and hope that they arrive in good condition. But once again how does dealer with a store front compete with a discounter? He can't, some dealers apparently give up on the line, get rid of their stock at a discount and fill the shelf space with something more profitable. Now if you couple that with HL's optimistic 10,000 edition sizes of a few years ago, a slowing economy you get discounted lighthouses on a few dealer shelves. Hopefully with HL reducing the edition sizes the problem will correct it's self as the excess drains off the shelves. Stores go out of business each day we can't do anything about that, that's life, clear out the stock at 50% off and it's over.
Looking at the bright side maybe a few people pick up a piece or two at a discount who might have been undecided to buy at full price and they get "The Bug" and start collecting. But I think that the Internet and the E-bay's of the world are changing the way we buy things and it's not over yet.
As Tim pointed out "who doesn't want a deal" would you buy a car from a dealer who has a cash back rebate or the dealer who expects you to pay full sticker price? I was looking for a negative scanner about 6 months ago, I found a Kodak scanner that I liked, it was $1000.00 from Kodak's online store I looked at their dealer list to see if any stores near me carried them (nothing close) but found a store in Indianapolis that had them for about $900.00 but If I bought from them I would have had to pay Indiana sales tax another 5%, I found a store in NY that had them for $800.00 and no tax for online out of state purchases. Am I crazy for buying it from the dealer in NY? I am just pointing out that the way we buy has changed forever, 10 years ago I most likely wouldn't have had much luck trying to buy something like that at a discount.
I am not saying that this is good for buyers or even bad for HL, I am just pointing out what I think is the underlying cause.
Mark
[This message has been edited by Mark Wagner (edited 01-25-2002).]
