A wire bag stand 10 or 30 is made for resiliently gripping and holding the open mouth of a plastic bag. Stand 10 or 30 includes a base 11 and generally U-shaped sides 12 and 13 mounted on base 11 to splay upright above the base for supporting the bag. Base 11 provides stops against inward movement of the upright sides. Top spans 32 of the sides are bent outward to grip and engage a plastic bag, and the sides resiliently flex so that their tops can be sprung toward each other by a bag stretched and held between them.
A plastic bag stand 10 is formed of wire to include a base 11 and generally U-shaped sides 12 and 13 pivotally mounted on the base to fold flat under the base for packaging and to open upright above the base for supporting the bag. The stand 10 has several improvements involving the way the base 11 is formed and the sides 12 and 13 are pivotally mounted on the base. The base is formed of opposed longitudinals 16 and 17 having central spans spaced apart by less than the width of the sides and a pair of opposed laterals 18 and 19 having mid-regions in the plane of the central spans of the longitudinals. End portions of the longitudinals are bent outward and downward to join the laterals, and S-curves 24 in the laterals make end regions 23 parallel with an offset from the mid-regions. Bonds 20 join the end regions of the laterals with the end portions of the longitudinals, and the sides are pivotally mounted on the end regions of the laterals between and adjacent the S-curves and the bonds. This allows the upper regions of the sides to detent against inside surfaces of the S-curves when folded and lower regions of the sides to detent against outside surfaces of the S-curves when opened upright.