They fucking bag everything in North America (and East Asia). It’s ridiculous.
In a regular bakery, the bread is behind the counter, out of reach of the patrons, correct? In a grocery store, it’s all on the shelf, where anyone can touch it. This is much more sanitary. I wouldn’t buy any that weren’t wrapped up.
No, most grocery stores in Europe have bread in a specific bread container that had a lid on it. You open the lid, take out a baguette and close the lid falls down again. They compartments inside the container get regularly refilled from the back where they are baked. I’ve seen this setup even in cheapo-chains like Aldi and Lidl.
That’s great, but what do you put the bread into? A plastic bag, or do people just carry them around bare? What happens if someone drops it and decides they want another, or just changes their mind about buying one? In North America, they’ll probably just put it back in the bin. Now the next person gets floor bread or, at least, something that someone else has been carrying around until they changed their mind.
Paper bags have to be left open to let the moisture vent and allow the bread to crisp. That doesn’t work on the grocery store floor. We tried it. Our first bags were paper.
