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While there may be no law requiring that you submit to a search, you have to realize that there is no law requiring them to do business with you. You can certainly tell them to go to hell when asked to let them search your bag, and there's nothing they can do to make you. What they can do is refuse to allow you in the store again. You have to be the one to decide if the affront of the search is worth losing the ability to shop there.
As for myself, I submit to the reciept check/basket check at CostCo. At CostCo it is part of the membership agreement that you sign, so if you're shopping in there you've already agreed that it's OK. Target and other similar stores where I live do not have people checking bags at the exit, I'm assuming that this is something that's happening in larger cities at the moment. If I were stopped at the exit to the local Target (or similar store) I'd undoubtedly refuse, and take my business elsewhere.
What you really don't have to worry about is being accused of theft or detained should you refuse. I've worked in retail security, and the rule is pretty much the same everywhere: Unless you see someone concealing unpaid for merchandise and are positive that it is still on their person when leaveing the store you do not stop them. The main reason for this is simple, lawsuits. A false accusation leaves a business open to civil suits, and the plaintiff almost invariably wins in those cases.
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Faith: not wanting to know what is true.
~Friedrich Nietzsche
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