There are two ways of European VAT refund for consumers from outside the EU that I am familiar with:

a) Use a service like Global Blue, which is rather pricey - they can refund you in cash or to your credit card.
b) Use a government provided form that gets filled in at the store, export the merchandise obtaining the relevant custom stamps, go back to the store (or mail it thither) to get your refund from the store. There is no fee with that.

b) used to be the "old school" way of doing it, at least in Austria and Germany. Many shops have stopped going it because it means extra work for them. Some of those stores who do it, stock the government forms, others don't.

I do not know if they would be required by law to do it.