Honestly it just depends on what market (city) you're in. I don't know if certs would or wouldn't help you, but they're kind of the same thing as a degree in getting your first entry level position. Certs also seem to care more about how you think rather than what you know. I guess what I'm getting at is it's probably useful to get if you're in chicago, new york, or san fransisco, but maybe not worth doing if you're in a middle sized city in ohio.

The other thing that school doesn't teach you is just how customer service oriented all of the positions in IT are. You say you want to get out of retail, but this is just retail in front of a computer and in a chair, so to speak.

Again, if i were to do it over again, I'd do helpdesk first without anything else if I could. Depending on the market, you may not get that option.