But the results are the same. Buy, mark it up, and sell it.
Sure - but that’s the nature of retail. A brick-and-mortar retailer is not in business to guarantee customers the lowest price, but to provide convenience and service in the location where the store is. If prices are too high, customers will drive a few more miles to the dollar store (or shop online) - if they are just right the items will sell and the store will make enough profit to keep operating.
Demanding price equity will lead to a hundred million unemployed and a nation of government-sponsored Walmarts…as it already is.
In the original example, the guy buying from the dollar store to resell isn’t getting as low a price as he could get from a distributor, but maybe he has poor cash flow or bad credit.