I pretty much only buy Star Wars Lego now and it is a bit steep in price at times, but even back in the day (80's) Lego was at the higher end of the price scale for what you got.
It's great that the brand survived the late 90's early 2000's near demise, I think this downturn was lead by poor sets, and pieces getting larger so therefore less building was required. I also thought at the time that they were heading down the wrong path and over-extending themselves with the licensed items. As a traditional builder it put me off the brand. I think as this idea wore off people like me came back especially once I saw the quality of the sets and the amount of construction required, although the easiness of the instructions now is a bit ridiculous, its the opposite of recent Transformers instructions
Recently they have tried to break into the girl market with the Friends line, I think this will work unlike the Paradisa line which tried but failed. They even have the Friends Lego at our TRU in the girls toy section not with the other Lego. A step in the right direction for sure.

I think Lint is pretty much spot on with the comments made in his post.