Wholesale Retail Packaging

Checkout Counter Essentials

The two staples every store goes through fastest: bags at the register and tissue in the bag. Paper shopping bags come in fourteen stock sizes from jewelry-scale to oversized, in natural and white kraft with twisted paper handles. Pair them with tissue paper in solids, prints, and specialty finishes for in-bag presentation.

Gift Services

Stores that wrap sell more during the holidays and keep customers year-round. Stock gift wrap rolls, ribbons and bows, and gift boxes in coordinated colors so any purchase can leave the store gift-ready.

Shipping & E-commerce

For orders that leave the store by mail: mailing boxes, protective fill, and clear packaging. Crinkle-cut shreds cushion and present products inside the box; cello bags and rolls keep individual items clean and visible.

Food, Wine & Specialty

Restaurants, wineries, and gourmet retailers have their own packaging lineup: food service bags and takeout packaging, wine bottle carriers and boxes, and everything needed to build and wrap gift baskets.

Custom & Branded Packaging

Add your logo to the bags your customers carry around town. Stock shopping bags can be custom printed with ink or hot stamp in one color, a low-commitment way to get branded packaging without custom manufacturing.

Want the full story? See how to make it yours below.

Paper Shopping Bag Sizes: The Quick Five

Shopping bags are sold under trade names that tell you nothing about their size. These five sizes cover most stores, listed as width x gusset (depth) x height in inches:

* = the two most popular retail bag sizes in the United States. Stock the Cub and Vogue first, then fill in sizes as your product mix demands.

That's the short version. The complete reference lives in our Bag Size & Style Guide: all fourteen trade names decoded, plus euro totes, merchandise, SOS, frosted, super gloss, t-shirt, and cello bag sizes with what fits in each.

Tissue Paper Quick Reference

Tissue sheet sizes and pack counts vary by style. This is the standard lineup.

How Much Packaging Does Your Store Need?

Two quick rules of thumb for first wholesale orders:

• Tissue paper: plan 2 to 3 sheets per wrapped item. A solid color pack (480 sheets) covers roughly 160 to 240 purchases; a white pack (960 sheets) roughly 320 to 480. Prints and specialty tissues come in 100, 200, or 240 sheet packs depending on the paper. See the quick reference above.
• The two-layer tissue trick: wrap items in white or natural kraft tissue for protection, then add a single print, specialty, or color sheet on top for presentation. White and natural kraft cost considerably less per sheet, so most of every wrap uses the economical layer while the customer still sees the premium one. White gives you the most sheets per pack at both sizes.
• Sheet sizes: for small items such as candles, jewelry, and cosmetics, use the 15 x 20 half sheets and save the 20 x 30 sheets for apparel and larger wraps.
• Shopping bags: multiply average daily transactions by selling days in the month. A store averaging 15 bagged sales a day uses about 450 bags a month, roughly two 250-count cases of its everyday size. Most stores stock two or three sizes: one small (Pup or Cub), one mid (Debbie or Vogue), one large (Senior or Queen).

Frequently Asked Questions About Retail Packaging

What packaging supplies does a retail store need?
Most stores start with four essentials: shopping bags in two or three sizes, tissue paper for in-bag presentation, gift boxes for higher-value items, and ribbon for gift finishing. Stores that offer gift wrapping add gift wrap rolls, and stores that ship orders add mailing boxes, shreds, and cello packaging.

What size shopping bag should a boutique order?
Match the bag to your bestselling product. Apparel boutiques typically rely on the Vogue (16 x 6 x 12) for everyday sales, with a Cub (8 x 5 x 10) for accessories and a Queen (16 x 6 x 19) for coats and oversized items. The Bag Size & Style Guide translates every stock trade name into exact dimensions.

What is the most popular shopping bag size?
The two most popular retail shopping bag sizes in the United States are the Cub (8 x 5 x 10) and the Vogue (16 x 6 x 12). The Cub covers gift shop staples like books, mugs, and boxed gifts; the Vogue is the classic boutique apparel bag. Together they handle most everyday retail sales.

What size is standard tissue paper?
The standard retail tissue paper sheet is 20 x 30 inches. A smaller 15 x 20 inch sheet is common for candles, jewelry, cosmetics, and other small items. Plan on 2 to 3 sheets per wrapped purchase.

How do you read shopping bag dimensions?
Bag sizes are listed as width x gusset x height, in inches. The gusset is the depth, or how far the sides expand. A 16 x 6 x 12 bag is 16 inches wide, 6 inches deep, and 12 inches tall. Boxes are measured differently: length x width x depth.

The Complete Guide Library

This page is part of our reference library for retail packaging. The rest of the series:

• Bag Size Guide: every retail bag size with the trade names decoded, from paper shoppers and euro totes to SOS, frosted, and poly, with what fits in each.
• Box Size Guide: every gift, apparel, jewelry, magnetic, and gable box size, with what fits in each.
• Gift Wrap Guide: wrapping paper widths and roll lengths decoded, from jeweler's rolls to full reams.
• Packaging Glossary: the industry's terms, from gusset to hot stamp, in plain English.

Make It Yours: Custom Printing

The bag your customer carries out of your store is walking advertising. Make it yours. Custom packaging is what The Packaging Source is known for: we've been voted Distributor of the Year by the Retail Packaging Association ten times, and nearly everything in this guide can carry your brand: shopping bags, euro totes, gift boxes, tissue paper, ribbon, and gift wrap can all be custom printed.

Start simple with one-color ink printing or hot stamping on stock items, the fastest way to look custom without custom manufacturing. Or go all the way: fully custom packaging in your colors and sizes, with full-coverage designs built around your brand from the ground up.

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