Artscroll is cetainly sold everywhere. I think the notion that Artscroll is somehow an inferior product or not lucrative has been debunked. It sells like hotcakes.
The target audience for what is being described is not people who are looking to be at the top of Rav Avrohom Yehoshua’s shiur in Brisk. It’s for baal habatim, BT’s, gerim, working yeshivish people, people who want a geshmak, and as described, those bochurim who are struggling.