Combo of a couple of things:
First off, people running these ops know they're facing little to no resistance when they make their move. Most retail employees aren't paid nearly enough to care enough to even remotely think about doing anything, and in the rare occasion that someone actually DOES decide to get physical or chase after anyone, there's a really good chance that they get fired.
Also, there's probably an argument to be made for people not being afraid of the police because despite the crazy budgets most local PDs get, they're still woefully inefficient at doing relevant policework, but that's a whole other conversation.