why still in doldrums?, page-40

This is a theft prevention measure I used to see at Chemist Warehouse in inner city Melbourne stores, pre COVID.

It's not something I see anymore up here in Brisbane which is a much slower market.

It seems to be the alternative approach to using those anti theft devices that some supermarkets use. Even with those, it is more common to see on A2 platinum.

I guess if you are looking for alternative explanations, in earlier times when daigou were more active, this also allowed the store to enforce purchase limits more easily (and probably scope out whether someone was actually a parent or not). May still be the case in some suburbs?