People Can't Stop Talking About Costco France's Giant Pallets Of Baguettes

Critics saw the arrival of Costco Wholesale in France as an idea doomed to fail. A retail expert assured The Atlantic that France "is much less about abundance and excess," and "the French buy to consume, not to have." French shoppers, however, are apparently less worried about what defines French culture and more interested in good deals. No native has had their citizenship revoked for buying their baguettes at Costco instead of the corner boulangerie. Just looking at the sheer volume of baguettes at the lone Costco store in France, the wholesale warehouse giant appears to have no trouble attracting customers to this most traditional of French breads.

Someone posted a photo on Reddit on June 13 of the vast array of baguettes sitting on pallets at the French Costco, located outside Paris. "This is 12 pallets in a row of baguettes, and it's not even all of them I saw at the store," Reddit user blount-force-trauma captioned the photo.

The photo on Reddit of boxes of baguettes, stacked high inside France's Costco, did not conform to some Redditors' stereotypes about what shopping for bakery items in that country should look like. "I imagined Parisians are so picky to the baguettes, and they refuse to eat anything other than ones baked by their favorite baker, so this is interesting," one Redditor commented. They received a reply intended to puncture that myth: "Paris isn't as fancy or bougie as you would think. Lots of regular people, working regular jobs, living ordinary lives. Cheep good bread is going to be popular."

As the Reddit community debated the merits of the baguettes at France's Costco, one Redditor chimed in to say their French husband even finds the baguettes at U.S. Costcos to be decent. "He said he puts them on par with an average French grocery store," the Redditor said.

Yet another Reddit user was reluctant to let go of the stereotype about French baked goods. "In France I was super disappointed to see locals buying supermarket baguettes and prepacked croissants. In one case there was a proper bakery right next door with way better products," they wrote.

The stacks of baguettes at the French Costco only prove that everyone loves a bargain. When The Atlantic visited the Costco shortly after it opened, a group of soccer teens were excited to find a 40-pack of Kirkland bottled water for only 3.79 euros. One of the teens summarized Costco's appeal: "It's cheap!"