Yeah, like Snap says... to recover costs really...

Sometimes they still make a little money but other times, particularly with less popular stuff they hope like heck they can recover the costs... remember, as a rule these places have to front up with the money before we consumers ever come on the scene... its a huge gamble for retailers and wholesalers.

And remember that out of that mark up comes all their costs - wages/salary (which is often the biggest cost), rent and other shop costs like electricity and hopefully at the end of it they make a profit for themselves...