Well first off, welcome to the forum, my first hobby grade rc was the Hornet as well. Still have the box, but the car has long since been broken down into parts. I too recently got back into rc after quite a few years break, and I noticed this too.
I recently got back into the hobby and to my dismay there have been quite a few drops in big name products, from my understanding there was a bit of an r/c recession that took place a few years past, which may or may not had to do with a part shortage as well. Now I wasn't in the hobby at this time, so maybe a more routined member might be able to provide more insight, but Hobbico for example is no longer with us, they have gone out of business.
As for big names, HPI, Traxxas, Losi, Axial all seem to still be putting out products (more-so Traxxas) but they are catering to 1/8th and larger scales, so as for budgets thats nearing the 1000$ mark.
Tamiya is still chugging along, they have the modelling scene to keep them going (paints, kits etc). They never really got into the 1/10, 1/8th scale MT scene however. They do offer quite a number of 1/10th onroad cars, and the TRF packages are quite nice, but pricey.
As for retro kits, tamiya has re-releases as does associated, but it depends what you're in the market for.