If there's enough to sell in a retail store, there's enough to sell online; it's just another arbitrary scarcity move. Brick and mortar is more expensive to maintain, as well, having been around mom and pop game stores of all kinds for several decades. Again, charge a handling fee if you have to, since people are already willing to pay it, but by not choosing to sell inventory online (or worse, keeping them in blind boxes!), you're stating you'll continue anti-customer practices.
It's not like you don't already have an online store already setup. It would be different if you were "Bobby's Vidja Boutique," renting out a double-wide front in a strip mall, but LRG is the leading brand being stingy. Seems like a lose-lose for everyone (except those taking pilgrimages to Mecca, it appears).
Re: theme for Star Wars and Shantae, if it's minimalist and bland, then yes, it is, if anything, consistent. Except for Pod Racer Revenge, which that's a rad case in comparison to the rest of the Star Wars line. Shantae is literally just logo and color. It's subjective, sure, but that's the feedback. Most buy it because it's Shantae and they think they'll all be in on the next Pirate's Curse, by I digress...
Managing customer expectations regarding cost is a separate issue, which you do control regarding whats valuable and what's not. The Dead Space super mega bundle has pretty much most gobsmacked over the cost. As a curious connoisseur of cat helmets, I know you'll be very wary of quantities with that one, because they usually bottom out unless they are absolute premium art pieces; which $250 isn't typically the range for actual collectable figures, statues, and replica products.
I'd certainly love if LRG focused less on pre-ordering new stuff and moved to back catalog modern remakes of high demand retro titles; ones that are both good and cost $100s in the aftermarket. OG collectors get to keep their first prints and modern retro fans get something on the shelf that's playable and affordable. You can still do new stuff, but then the lead times will be shorter as you can issue pre-orders on titles that have gone through the whole "release broken, get patched, patch the patch, and then issue the GOTY version" cycle.
Still fits with the ethos of LRG and physical forever.
The one thing I don't know is if you have to have a license from Sony or Nintendo and get minimum prints on new carts or discs; it's pretty obvious those things can be made as the aftermarket is filled with high demand knock-offs of NES, SNES, GBA, DS, Dreamcast, etc. games. Official ones would be a standout, IMO.
PS: To make it seem like I'm not 100% cynical, I forgot to pre-order Gotta Protectors for Switch, but look forward to that one greatly. And I have a soft spot (perhaps on my skull) for the Mercenaries SRPG series and have bought all the releases. I think the services you provide have great value, just don't like the trend of where it's going. Per your own archive, you 374 standard editions and whopping 689 collector's editions... more killer, less filler, please!