Pet stores need a great deal of mark up for all their expenses in running a business. It's common to see a baby BP for $80+ at a pet store, while you can get a similiar(i.e. not super quality) normal BP hatchling at a show for $10-25.
Remember all the expenses? There's a lot that you probably don't think about. The fact is that most of the general public thinks that pets come from pet stores and that individual people selling animals are all "puppy mills" or "backyard breeders", thanks to all the AR folks AND all the people who insist on using those vague terms for anyone who breeds. A storefront says respectable business who pays their permits and taxes, while a person says shady street dealer who disappears after they sell the animal. Is that true? Not always, but that's the public image.
If you started to go into a store to buy CDs and someone in the street said "Hey, I'll sell you these CDs for 1/4 the price..." would you think he was a independant CD seller or some shady character who might not have legitimate merchandise?
It's similiar to the public perception of pets, especially exotics. All those smuggling shows on AP don't help any.
So yes, the prices in pet stores are way higher than an expo or a breeder. But it's not really "outrageous" for those prices to be higher, considering the expenses involved in running a brick-and-mortar business, as opposed to just breeding in your home and selling the excess, or selling only your produce at the occasional show table.