Although I agree with you that it is unfortunate for the Apple Resellers, I would also like to point out that I have never once been into an Apple Reseller that even comes close to the 'feel' and service that you get in an Apple store, and I guess that is what apple is fighting, you know what they are like about their completely closed ecosystem.
Also the high street resellers are there for a very different purpose to the apple stores, while the resellers are there to sell products then and there, the apple stores are there to introduce people to the world of apple, and that strategy sure does work. For example, a while back a lot of my (female) friends started going to apple stores just so that they could use Photo Booth, and upload the pictures the FB, now, most of them have and Apple laptop (a lot of them have MacBook Pros, which I can not understand...).
A bit long winded, but my point is that whilst the Resellers are going to be hit hard by this, that is inevitable anyway, they are competing with the likes of amazon and the online apple store (and other online retailers) the apple stores aren't really competing with anything.
Joe