As for work outside store hours: sure, there is some. But it's not a restaurant where you have to sterilize everything in the kitchen. It's a bookstore. At most you have to sweep the floors, maybe re-shelf some misplaced books, and shelf the newcomers. It's not a tremendous amount of work that has to be done before opening or after close.
Even for those who work 10 years for a company, like Borderlands has?
I also don't think you've run retail operations at any sort of scale, given your comments.
Why? Just because they make ~$12/hr? I have employees making $15/hr (lowest we pay) who have 2-4 weeks of PTO plus flex days, and I don't consider myself exceptionally generous.
Yes, if the employer is paying the minimum wage my guess is they are also paying for the minimum number of hours.