Walk into most supermarkets and the first thing you notice is the lighting.
Bright, even, fluorescent, everywhere. Designed so you can read a label at the back of a shelf from six feet away.
Now walk into a store where the ceiling is dark, the aisles are narrow, the lighting is focused down onto the product, and there is music that is not aggressively cheerful.
Same industry. Completely different building.
That North Carolina chain is not badly lit. It is deliberately lit, and the reason tells you what business it thinks it is in.
It is not competing with the supermarket across the road.
It is competing with the restaurant next door, and once you understand that, every decision in the store makes sense.