A bakery is a shop where bread, cakes, cookies, pastries, and other baked goods are made and sold. Walk into a bakery early in the morning and you'll smell fresh bread baking, see trays of croissants cooling on racks, and find display cases filled with decorated cakes and colorful cookies.

Bakeries have existed for thousands of years. In ancient Rome, professional bakers formed guilds and sold bread to city residents who didn't have ovens at home. Medieval European towns often had communal bakeries where families brought their dough to be baked in large ovens. Today's bakeries range from small neighborhood shops run by a single baker to large commercial operations that supply grocery stores.

Some bakeries specialize: a French bakery might focus on baguettes and croissants, while others concentrate on wedding cakes, bagels, or doughnuts. Many bakeries start work before sunrise so their products are fresh when customers arrive for breakfast. The person who runs or works in a bakery is called a baker, and the craft itself is called baking.

When someone says they're “going to the bakery,” they mean they're heading out to buy fresh baked goods rather than buying packaged bread from a grocery store shelf.