Unfortunately it is the way things are done now. A decision is made high up and the shop closed without notice and the staff out of the door before they can pilfer any of the stock.
Similarly in an office environment, the 20 minute rule applies, pack your desk up, collect your personal effects and out of the door before you can download client lists or do any damage via you computer etc..
Years of faithful service add up to zilch in the end, they're too afraid of what they could lose or suffer from when they yank the plug. You get paid for lack of notice and there's no money in sentiment.
I can understand more and more specialist shops closing down. I tried owning a model shop for a couple of years, great fun, met a load of interesting people but a lot of customers were the same, came into the shop, played with all the gizmos and stuff say they'd come back later, then went and bought it for a couple of quid less on the Internet, you might get the odd purchase when they needed something in a hurry, especially late on a Saturday afternoon because they wanted to fly, sail or race or race on the Sunday!
The best bit would be when they would call in when they had a problem with their Internet purchase and expect us to repair or replace it free of charge or under warranty then wonder why we weren't that accomodating