Selectively closing certain stores while leaving others open did nothing for public health. People were still buying the same stuff. They were just forced to do it at big box retailers (who also sold "essential" products) instead of small, independent retailers. In the end the virus exposure risk was there same.

In the long run it would have been better to leave all retailers open. Bad economic conditions literally kill people. They die slowly from deaths of despair (chronic disease, substance abuse, suicide) but in the end they're dead all the same.