While in the UK over Easter I went into a chain store and saw box after box with either dead twigs protruding out or long lank growth where the plants which still had some life in them were struggling to reach light. I bought 4 at £1 each and I think they will pull through. On the way home I called in at a real nursery and left my bag at the tills to avoid any confusion. I needn't have, as there was no way the nursery would have claimed my boxed plants were theirs. When I went back to pay for the nursery plants the owner handed back my bag saying "and here are your weeds"!
So, yes, sad to see rows of dead, unwatered, plants on the back shelves of stores. But I may make something of them yet.