My wife works at a very small CVS store—we will see if this really happens in the small stores with light traffic—count me skeptical.
My experience working in the retail industry for many years:
1) Guard services charge a higher rate for armed guards than unarmed guards.
2) Executives in this business lay awake in bed each night trying to come up with a way to shave ten bucks a shift from their payroll
3) All of these armed guards will go away once this story fades from public view and they are no longer a public relations necessity.