Since when do big chains carry boosters in a box? Ever place I've ever been to that isn't one of those overpriced hobby stores sells them in the cardboard packaging.
The reason why should be obvious: The big stores sell them in the toy sections, like at Target and Wal•Mart, and the cardboard packaging is a major way to deter their theft. Anyone who's ever seen someone drop a Charizard on the ground back during the Base Set days knows people gotta catch em' all, in any way. (Even then, there's nothing that prevents some of the craftier people to open the packaging quietly, put the packs in their pockets, backpacks, or purses, and discard of the cardboard packaging somewhere, like at the food court at Target. I see empty cardboard packaging all the time...though not as often for the cards as for the figures.)
I don't know how so many of you guys find department stores that sell the booster packs in boxes. Either crime in your areas are absurdly low or they have some other way to figure out if someone's pocket-stuffing.