July 7, 2025
Decorative Lighting Sector Under Pressure as Brands Shut Down
Image credit: GA Group, the liquidation company in charge of Elk Lighting's selloff
Higher costs and disappearing suppliers test the resilience of residential lighting companies
Elk Home, also known in lighting circles as Elk Lighting, has begun a full liquidation of its $46 million inventory — a quiet but unmistakable sign that one of the decorative lighting world’s better-known names has reached the end of the line. The company’s letter to customers outlines steep discounts, no restocks, and no returns as Elk clears out its rural Georgia distribution center and winds down operations that once stretched from permanent showrooms in Dallas to High Point and New York City.
Multiple reports, including detailed coverage by Lighting News Now, trace the unraveling back months: locked showrooms, canceled backorders, and an industry rumor mill that finally gave way to an official “going, going, gone.” For residential showrooms that still carried Elk alongside other lines, the liquidation adds another closed sign to an already fragile landscape.
While Elk had a residential focus, numerous commercial lighting agents in the U.S. and Canada represented the brand.
Not the Only Door Closing
Elk’s shutdown is not an isolated chapter. Last month, Inside Lighting reported that Porter Lighting — a Dallas-based showroom business — filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. The numbers were grim: $3.2 million in liabilities, just $1.6 million in assets, and cash on hand too thin to bridge the gap. And in a twist that says plenty about how tightly wound this sector really is, Elk Lighting is one of the creditors Porter still owes.
Retailers and reps at the Dallas Market Center have warned for months that cost spikes, shipment delays, and shaky consumer demand are making the showroom business harder to sustain. When a well-known line folds or a neighborhood showroom goes dark, it cuts deeper than local jobs — it hits reps, upstream suppliers, and small brands that rely on fragile relationships and shrinking margins to stay afloat.
Tariffs Push Small Firms Closer to the Edge
Last month, the American Lighting Association put it bluntly: “Many U.S. lighting and ceiling fan businesses are small, family-owned companies that operate on tight margins. These tariffs will make it harder for them to compete, leading to potential job losses and reduced investment in domestic operations.”
Increased tariffs on Chinese goods has only turned the screws tighter on a sector whose margins are often tight. Even for companies that pivoted production away from China, higher costs, longer lead times, and new fees have closed off easy alternatives.
While Elk began shifting manufacturing to Vietnam and India during the last round of trade upheavals, multiple reports — including Lighting News Now — point to other strains: scattershot acquisitions, softened demand, and the drag of absorbing struggling companies that never found solid footing.
A Stunning Prediction in China
What’s happening stateside mirrors trouble overseas. As Epoch Times reported, a long-established lighting factory in Foshan and another in Dongguan both closed in late June — casualties of shrinking U.S. and European orders. Many of these factories serve the same residential and decorative sector that Elk once stocked.
Factory owners and brokers warn that more closures are coming. As Epoch Times put it: “It is expected that nearly half of the lighting companies in Zhongshan will go bankrupt before the end of the year.”
Every overseas bankruptcy reverberates through the American decorative market. Showrooms that rely on steady container loads of chandeliers and pendants now face longer waits, steeper prices, or sudden holes on the shelves. Many small, family-run brands can’t simply jump to new factories without absorbing higher costs or losing precious margin.
Consolidation or Caution?
No one is ready to call Elk’s liquidation the beginning of an industry-wide collapse — but few are willing to shrug it off as a fluke, either. With fresh tariffs, cautious shoppers, and whispers of more closures to come, many showrooms may hedge with smaller orders and leaner inventories through the rest of 2025.
Meanwhile, the American Lighting Association is lobbying to roll back the new tariffs before more businesses hit the same wall. Whether Washington listens is another matter. For now, the reality is what it is: a once-familiar name exits quietly, leaving reps, designers, and customers to wonder which lighting brand or showroom might go dark next.
