Honestly I have a similar story so
When I was 6 me and my dad used to go to this LFS. One day we walked in and they had about anything between 10 and 30 baby red tail catfish inside a 10 gallon (38 litre) this LFS also sold me and volitan lionfish for my 30 gallon and it died of marine velvet or ich sadly
The shop in question also sold (I don't know if they still do as I don't go in there) baby red tails but they also have a 3-4ft one on display which they rescued. It takes a certain type of person to see both together and still want one but I guess it asks the question, is it a good shop for showing the potential size of some of these fish rather than just having a small cute one that everyone might want? Or is it bad that they stock them in the first place?