finds in the wild...

The brick and mortar retailers fail for the most part, even when they try, I believe because they really do not know wet shaving. They are trying, but failing abysmally.
Witness the Creamo cream, VdH shave butter, etc. All brushless.
Their fallback is the VdH kits, because they really don't know any better. The Caffeinated Shave cream gets good reviews from a couple of wet shavers, but the price vs the amount of cream you actually get caused me to pass that up straight off the bat.
They will offer these things for a while, and when they don't sell well enough, they'll throw up their hands, say, "See, there's no market there", and happily and blindly turn back to Gillette.
MHO.

I beg to disagree.  These are not stupid people you are talking about.  Typically, in companies like this, the only thing that comes close to matching their marketing and advertisement budget is their market research budgets.  They aren't doing this because they think there is no market.  They are doing this because they have researchers who are noticing the more frequent small-ball stories in the press, they are noticing the increasing activity in the forums, and they are noticing the uptick in new sites and vendors doing increasing business in this stuff.  They aren't carrying anything good because most of what is getting touted on the web as good falls into two categories, international imports with razor thin margins (pun intended), or artisan products.  Either way, they won't be able to stock the shelves with that stuff at a price that seems reasonable to their test market budget, which is thin as hell.  They spend a lot of money finding out what is likely to be the next big seller, but very little until something proves out to be a huge seller.

The plus side, they understand that they are under-serving the market.  They aren't expecting a whole lot of sales, and they are expecting even fewer return customers on it to prove out the market.  If enough of these crap products sell to people who heard about it and decided to buy without doing the research we have, they will increase the offerings they make in this area to things we are more likely to buy.  When that happens, expect Gillette and Schick to jump back in and say, "Hey, we're pros here, trust us."  Problem is, I don't think we will like the aftermath.  DE Blades will likely be widely available, but at a cost more in line with 50 cents a blade, not ten.  Mass marketed soaps will be available easy, but won't be as high quality, but will be cheap.  Etc.  If the market proves out, that is.  If it doesn't, things remain as they are, the growth our niche is experiencing now will level off, and things won't be much different.

I'm not calling anyone stupid. I just believe that the average man or woman who does the stocking/ordering in a small business(or even chains like WallyWorld and Target) probably shaves with a Mach3 or equivalent, and has no clue about wet shaving, nor about the products used for it. They are doing their best, but I don't believe they will take the time to submerge themselves in the forums and other places where good information on wet shaving can be found. They have a whole lot more products to manage/order/stock than just the shaving isle. Most of them are overworked(especially if they own said small business), make a lot less money than most people think, and time is money to them.
They will try to grab a bit of this market, but when the product they choose does not sell, they will drop it and choose what works for them; carts and canned foam.
As far as customers who don't do their research "hearing about it" and trying the stuff blind, we are still a very small blip on the radar. Most guys are happy with canned foam and a cart, or electric razors, and are quite happy to stay ignorant to wet shaving. Don't believe me? Get into a large group of men and start talking about shaving soaps, brushes, DEs, etc., and watch the funny and "weirdo" looks start flying around the room.
That is just my opinion, and we will see over time whether or not it plays out that way.

In my experience, it is actually slightly opposite. The few times I have brought this up at work, and once at the bar with a friend, it actually started turning into a conversation among many. Currently, it is getting to where a lot of stories and posts where people go often online are running stories on wet shaving. We are a tiny blip on the radar, but overall, so is the percentage of tobacco users who use chewing tobacco rather than smoke, but the big box stores as well as mom and pop gas stations are all stocking skoal and cope. And doing OK it seems.

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saw this in walmart yesterday:

Andrew, it looks like my first DE, a Weishi.