Cage size:
Please read my post on "about cages", page 3 of the thread "minimum size for hospital and cleaning". It goes into great depth to explain how small cages cause serious health and welfare problems. It is far too long for me to type again! I know this because I have experience with pets, because I work with animals, and because I have plenty of animal qualifications. I have read the scientific papers on the effects of cage size and environmental enrichment, written assignments on the subject, and spend half my life trying to convince people that I might actually know what I'm talking about.
Pet shops:
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I personally would rather get a baby GP from a well-established pet-store with a health guarentee then from some "farmer" selling GP's from his back-yard or from a flea-market or wherever (which is what would happen if all pet stores were banned from selling small animals) you would only see an increase in "hobby" breeders and still pigs would be over-bred.
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I actually think the exact opposite is true. Consider buying a dog. Everyone knows the "rules" about selecting a good breeder, the same can be done with
cavies. See the pigs with their mum, meet other relatives see how tame and healthy they are. Make sure they are kept in good conditions, and the breeder is knowledgable etc. If people had to go direct to a breeder to buy a piggy they could make that judgement - they could be easily educated how to tell a good breeder from a bad one.
If people buy from pet shops they have no idea where that animal came from. It
could be a good breeder - but it is
far more likely to be a bad, byb who is only in it for the money, neglects their animals etc. This is because the pet store wants to make a profit, hence they want to buy cheap animals, hence going to the cheapest and worst breeders.
Unless you buy direct, you have no idea what your money is paying for. Also, if they had to go to a breeder or rescue less people would impulse buy, so fewer piggies would be neglected then dumped.
I don't think it matters how "educated" pet store employees are in other areas (e.g. well done on your teaching degree, but it's not relevant to keeping pets). Most stores employ people as part time staff, e.g. students etc who need some cash. MOST know nothing about animals. Petco may give staff
opportunities to learn, but this should be compulsory before the person is allowed to start caring for or selling animals! It also depends on whether Petco are giving out correct information to start with. When they tell customers things like
cavies are scared of large spaces, they don't need hay/veggies, should eat mixed food, have a salt lick etc I doubt they are doing any better for their staff.