The reason I ask this is because I was buying motor oil at Walmart and walked by the Lego section that was entirely behind glass with signs that told you to contact an associate for assistance. Keep in mind this wasn't in Minneapolis or even an urban Walmart. This was a relatively small rural town in the Midwest.
Generally speaking, I avoid Walmart and maybe that's why whenever I actually do go there, I notice these differences. I don't think they're putting Legos behind glass because people are stealing Legos, I think they're doing that to get ahead of accusations of "racism" because now they can say "we lock up stuff at *all* our stores, not just the stores in black areas".
One of the things that's quickly fading in the west is any transaction that involves the "honor system". Stuff doesn't have to be constantly monitored and locked up when you know the people that live around you. IMHO, they're trying to make us suspicious of our own just like the Soviets did with the Stasi in East Germany.
i do not think they would do that merely for demoralization purposes
but yeah, regarding "we lock stuff up in all our stores, not just chimpzones", i think that might be something to do with it, so you might be right there