​Not-so-obvious reasons why some businesses fail?

I was recently speaking to someone who set up stationary store (paper, pens, etc.) in a residential area. People always need paper and pens, right? And loads of people work from home, right? But it never took off. The reason he suspects is that when people visit their office once or twice a week, they just steal stationary from their office. A not-so-obvious reason but a very valid reason why this business model would fail.

What was a service or product line you were sure would take off but didn’t?

And why do you think it didn’t take off?