Custom Grocery Bags

A Grocery Bag Is a Walking Billboard

A grocery bag leaves the store full and comes back to life a week later as a lunch carrier, a recycling bin liner or a bag for the farmers market. If your store's name is printed on it, it keeps showing up long after the receipt is thrown away. Custom grocery bags with your logo turn an item you buy anyway into a small piece of advertising that customers carry down the street for you.

The stores that order printed paper grocery bags tend to be independent: neighborhood markets, specialty and organic grocers, butcher-and-deli shops, Asian, Latin and Middle Eastern supermarkets, health food stores, convenience stores, farm stands and bakeries that sell pantry goods. Grocery delivery services use them too, since a branded bag on a doorstep looks far better than a loose pile of shopping.

Many areas now charge for, or restrict, single-use plastic carryout bags, which has pushed stores toward paper. A printed paper bag fits into that change and lets you make the bag look like part of your brand rather than a generic necessity.

Farm stands and weekend markets are a good fit as well, since shoppers there buy several loose items and need something to carry them in.

Picking Sizes and Paper Weight

Grocery bags have a flat, square bottom so they stand open on the bagging counter and stay upright in a car trunk. The two decisions are size and paper weight. A larger bag is not always better: overfilled bags are heavy, and customers struggle to carry them. Two medium bags carried one in each hand are more comfortable than one huge bag.

Natural brown kraft is the standard for grocery bags because it is strong, inexpensive and familiar. White paper costs a little more but makes colors bright, which suits gourmet and specialty stores. Recyclable kraft is available and fits well with stores that promote sustainability. All papers are food-contact grade and meet FDA requirements, which matters when bakery items or produce go straight into the bag.

Designing for the Checkout and the Sidewalk

A grocery bag is seen from a distance, usually from the side, as someone walks out of the store. Large logos and short messages beat detailed artwork. Print on both wide sides so the bag looks branded in either hand, and think about the narrow gussets as space for a website, social handles or a slogan.

• One or two PMS (Pantone) colors on kraft is the classic grocery look and the most economical to print.
• Full CMYK on white paper suits produce photography or illustrated designs for specialty stores.
• Print a reuse message; customers often keep a bag that asks to be used again.
• Add opening hours or a phone line for delivery on the gusset.
• Seasonal designs work well for holiday shopping weeks and anniversary promotions.

Stores with an in-house bakery can carry the same artwork to smaller printed bread bags for loaves, so fresh bread goes into its own bag and then into the grocery bag without looking out of place.

Bagging Habits That Protect the Bag

Train staff to load heavy items on the bottom, square to the base, and lighter ones on top. Cans and bottles go first, then boxes, then bread and eggs. Put chilled and frozen items together and, where possible, in their own bag; condensation from frozen food softens paper over time, so it helps to wrap frozen items or put them in a separate bag on the way out. Wet produce should be bagged in a produce bag before it goes in.

Store your bag stock flat and dry, away from the loading dock where rain and cold air come in. At the register, keep a few bags opened and standing to speed up the line. Meat and fish counters often wrap cuts in paper before they go in; printed custom butcher paper keeps those wrapped items branded inside the bag too.

How to Order Printed Grocery Bags

1. Count how many bags you use in a typical week and which size dominates.
2. Pick sizes and choose brown kraft or white paper.
3. Send your logo, colors and any message for the sides and gussets.
4. Ask for a free sample and load it with a real shop to test it at the counter.
5. Approve the proof; your order is made in 4 to 6 business days after approval.

Orders start at 100 bags per design, which lets a new store test a design before committing, with volume discounts for larger runs. Free design help, free samples and free shipping to the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia come with every order. If you deliver groceries, our custom printed food delivery bags can be quoted alongside your checkout bags.