Yeah, it's not always the case that the smaller shops are better. The Petco I used to go to had a great reptiles manager who had over 4 dozen herps at home herself. Yet the nearest reptiles and feeders specialty shop is absolutely awful with balls all piled in together with no hides or supplemental heat or means of measuring temps or humidity, and actually had a lizard in with them last time I went (lizards are generally kept in small critter keepers lined up together on a shelf).

On the other hand, the next nearest reptile specialty shop is absolutely wonderful and the owner is a young guy (27 or 28) whose mom and granddad both work for him and who is licensed for hots and breeds water monitors. Basically, I think reptile retailers tend to be either verry good or very bad with not much in between.