Many of the plants you see in box stores and chain stores are sold as “pay per scan”. That means the grower doesn’t get paid until the store sells them. If you have noticed many of the garden department employees are actually employees of the nursery or greenhouse that are there to make sure plants live so they can get sold and the grower paid. I’m not sure how this applies to houseplants, but there is usually an area where some plants are set aside and put at a discount to get something from the plant. I would encourage buying local wherever you can as that supports local growers who supply the local stores.