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Well, if stores are self-reporting that's a problem because the genre is "muddy" so far as any individual defines it. Libraries often shelve them with fantasy and a JD Robb could easily get stuck in there. So some of it is probably genre definition. Some could be lack of specialists/readers. When I worked at the library we had a librarian who specialized in buying sci/fi/fantasy. He retired. He was not replaced by the same expertise. Same could easily be true in bookstores. Bookstores end up with large sections of books that are favored by the people who work there.
I also think indies have hugely impacted the genre. That may be my own bias talking, and I don't read a lot of scifi, but when I do, it's indie or Baen. I tend to shy away from Tor titles because--THEY ARE TOO DANG LONG. Some people love that, me, not so much. Even Baen books can go on and on and not get to the point (for me). I like the character driven books, so I have read Scalzi and enjoyed it and I like Mark Van Name for the same reason. They aren't necessarily "hard" sci fi either. I also read the superhero stuff and the anti-superhero stuff--and as someone said, big publishers were pretty late to that sub genre.
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