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Medium sized town.
Isolated.
One good locksmith shop, and a couple sole-operated mobile outfits.

What is to prevent the shop in this scenario from hiring locksmith candidates with prior experience just to get their signature on a non-compete agreement, then letting them go, thereby denying the person from doing any locksmithing work in his own home town? Collecting signatures, so to speak.

Depends on laws in your state. A few - CA most notably - effectively treat noncompetes as unenforceable outside of a few specific situations, and quite a few have some restriction on how and when noncompetes can be enforced, such as to protect trade secrets or proprietary processes and practices.

In the specific case you suggest, it would seem pretty clear the shop in question is using noncompetes in bad faith, and I would think few courts would rule them enforceable. Broadly, the purpose of an agreement like this is to protect the company's trade secrets and practices, not to allow a company to stifle any and all competition. Courts haven't generally looked kindly on broad noncompetes that effectively prevent the former employee from ever working in the industry again.

(Not a lawyer, so take the above as a nonprofessional opinion)

In Germany non-competes in employment contracts can be valid after employment if the company pays the former employee. Not sure if the amount is the lost business or if it is connected to the former salaries.

Your in Cali,dont worry about it.

According to the California Business and Professions Code Section 16600, “every contract by which anyone is restrained from engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind is to that extent VOID.”

In other words, non-compete agreements are not enforceable in California. However, that does not mean that an employee will not be wrongfully presented with one or told that they have to sign one as a condition to their employment. Employers may try to say that there are extenuating circumstances in place for them to enforce a non-compete agreement, but these arguments are usually rejected by California courts.

As of January 1, 2017, non-compete agreements in California must operate under these rules:

Employees can void any non-competes that require a court outside of California to decide disputes. In other words, the company cannot enforce an employee’s non-compete agreement in a state that allows these agreements.
Employees are able to void contracts with illegal non-compete terms.
Only California courts are able to rule on non-compete issues within the state, and the courts can only do so using California law.
Employees are able to receive compensation for their attorney’s fees if they have to go to court to stand up for themselves in a non-compete dispute. Employers cannot seek attorney’s fees from the employee, even if the employer wins.