How Wines Are Kept Before Purchase

[Redwolf]

Hey all, I've been reading a lot of posts on this forum as I've been enjoying wines more and more recently, so I've been studying and looking around. I’ve noticed a lot of information on how to keep wines regarding temperature, light, etc., so here's my quandary:

Walking through a particular market I notice a lot of high dollar wines - $50-80 bottles (My novice definition of “high dollar” wine,) sitting out in the middle of the store neatly arranged in wood boxes. Considering advice on keeping wines, how can it be a good thing to leave these wines in the middle of the store exposed to light & most likely undesirable temperatures, THEN paying $50-80 dollars for it??

Now I ask this because I'm a big enough beer and cigar connoisseur to know that I’m not going to pay a lot of money for a beer that’s been exposed to high temperature and light, or a cigar that has rested outside a humidor for who knows how long. So why would one pay that much for a bottle of wine that has sat in undesirable conditions? If wines should be preferably kept in wine cellar type conditions, why would you buy one of the aforementioned wines at all? Are wines not really as sensitive to heat and light as some people would like you to believe? On the other side of that coin, I’m not expecting all wine resellers to build a wine cellar in their establishment, so where’s the middle ground? Is there a middle ground, or is my argument moot for some other factor I’m not realizing? This has really got me thinking, and I’m dying to hear opinions on the subject.

Greatly Appreciative,
Redwolf