Why would anyone work at Macy's for $15 or $16 an hour when in most markets you can get a job making two or three dollars more an hour. If you work at Macy's, you know that there is seldom enough support to complete the exhaustive workload and never enough hours to meet the service expectations that customers expect in a department store.
No, I'll take working at a small box retailer in the mall or a fast food place where you aren't expected to do the work of what used to be three or four people. The complexity of working in a store is now at a point where employees who are capable of meeting expectations are also capable of getting a better job and making significantly more than we pay. It's not that no one wants to work, it's that nobody who is qualified to successfully run a register, explain credit, explain bronze, take markdowns, complete signing, complete fulfillment orders, complete BOPS orders, clean, place merchandise while following three different types of merchandising guides, learn and use antiquated register systems, become product experts for the whole store since we are all required to work everywhere, do pre-sale, help pull reverse logistics (thanks ISM), and don't forget be able to explain the charity donation to every customer.