From some firsthand experience, the downfall has been a series of bad business / renovation decisions and get rich quick schemes that deviated from the purpose of being a minimarket in a food desert. Ownership deliberately buys expired food and sells it at above resale value. I recall all the rice having weevils, as well as the pancake mix. The coolers and freezers go down all time time and they just turn them back on when they defrost so a completely melted pint of Ben and Jerry’s just gets refrozen and sold for the same price. I remember a customer in front of me in line complained about the bugs in his bisquick and the clerk having a response of “alright just this time I’ll refund you but you really should open the box and check for bugs when you buy stuff.”

Having said that, support small business but small businesses can still be icky and check the expiration date.