Sometimes it is a good idea to start a sentence with a certain word for emphasizing it, so the second sentence here wants to emphasize the information "better". And generally in those INVERTED sentences, the sentence is structured as in the questions. Your second sentence is perfectly normal in this context...

1) It would be far better to open a second retail shop with much higher margins. The first sentence looks correct. 2) Better would it be to open a second retail shop with much higher margins. The second sentence looks like a question, although the word order is awkward. Better would it be to open a second retail shop with much higher margins? You can rewrite it like this: Would it be better to open a second retail shop with much higher margins?

Haha, thank you Craig.

#1 is correct. #2 isn't wrong but isn't correct either. #2 sounds like Yoda said it.