[heywire]

I've actually found more mom-and-pop type places have upgraded than big box stores. The first place I was able to use Google Wallet with my Android phone was a locally owned grocery store. The first EMV transaction I performed outside of Walmart was at my local liquor store on a stand-beside terminal (not directly integrated with the point of sale).

I work in this space, and while both the software and hardware have been ready for some time, retailers are just really slow to change. When you're talking about potentially hundreds to thousands of new card readers at nearly $1k each, followed by many hours of testing new software versions, piloting and rolling it out, etc., it is a significant investment for them to add support for EMV. That said, it's not like this was on short notice. They've had plenty of time (and incentive) to get this done.