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It's really a matter of perspective.
There are the oddball chain stores which are quite good, sell healthy animals and deal with the inherent difficulties involved in retail animal sales quite well.
There are murderholes of disease and neglect.
Both of these are the minority, the majority of the chain stores (as with all petstores) will be mediocre. Animals arriving in varying conditions, kept in something less than what would be ideal but generally meeting and exceeding the minimal requirements to technically maintain the animal in good health. There are a certain number of animals which will simply fail to thrive and certain numbers of losses which are inevitable. They need to be able to carry a volume of animals to meet the requirements of their customers or they lose sales, lose market position and are shut out of business... Killing pet retail is not a good solution to husbandry issues, since it will in effect deal a deathblow to 85%+ of the industry. If nobody is buying leopard geckos, nobody is selling. Nobody selling means nobody importing or breeding. While there is a good amount of internal trade (animals for animals or money) in the herping game, it can't be sustained at it's current level purely internally. Shutting out Joe Firstgecko by cutting off the chain stores means his kids Frank SecondgeckoIwantOneOfThoseBrightOrangeOnes and Susan ThreeHundredForAHypoCarrotTailWithExceptionalMarki ngsOkYouGotADeal! never get interested.
Most states issue petshop licences, which is probably the inspection process which has been hinted at but not yet explained... Again, this can go either way depending on who does the inspection and what their standards are. If the individual responsible for performing the inspection doesn't know anything about reptiles, it will probably allow some negative practices to continue. If they do, then it might be mentioned that something needs to be corrected or, if conditions are bad enough, animals can be confiscated and licenses to sell livestock revoked (or not renewed) in most states. Each one is slightly different in their laws and how they are applied.
So... is petco ever going to meet the standards of health and husbandry that a high quality small breeder will? Of course not, it's stupid to even consider or to expect. However is a high quality breeder ever going to match Petco's prices or the production numbers which have put reptiles (Mostly leopard geckos really) into the homes of tens of thousands of Americans and brought our hobby (industry, science, passion) into the eyes of mainstream american culture? Not a chance in hell.
I have said it before and I'll say it again... the approach someone takes in trying to deal with a petco or petsmart (or ANY other petstore) about something they feel is an issue will play a huge role in how that issue is resolved. Demanding to speak to a manager and going on a tirade about the terrible conditions (a day or two worth of feces maybe, or an animal here or there which didn't make it or is showing signs of illness) won't get positive results. It takes you out of the realm of "Hey, here's how you fix that fungal infection on the cichlids..." and puts you into "Lunatic animal rights activist vegan psycotic PETA member spouting off." even when it isn't true. If you see a problem, suggest solutions conversationally. I can't believe that I (an abrasive and generally fairly loud individual) have to mention this but... You get better results if people believe you're trying to help them than when you're trying to abuse them. Although asking obscure herpetological questions of petstore employees can be either amusing or a pleasant surprise depending on their answers.
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