Sad but things change. Who in the 80s imagined Strand would decline and be replaced by a company that was hardly in business at that time. Clancy and SECOA subsumed by Wenger. So many changes and not surprised if they continue even more rapidly.
I hope the employees and folks that depended on Design Lab all find new pursuits and success.
There's still a company called Grand Stage operating here. They merged with Chicago Spotlight and moved west on Grand in 2015. That part of the city is pricing out business, it's all high rises now. My favorite old hardware store in that area, Clark & Barlow hardware, also closed.
Honestly I've long been surprised that our relatively small industry can support so many distributors and dealers.