This may come off as a noob question, but wouldn't there be a way to set up Bitcoin payments for brick-and-mortar retailers without requiring something like Bitpay?
Sure. You can use a static address for this, like Mycelium wallet for Android, or you can use wallet software that generates new addresses for each transaction, like breadwallet for iPhone. BitPay, coinbase, and BIPS and superfluous in theory if the merchant does not need to convert back into fiat. The only problem is that these wallets are slightly more advanced to operate than the merchant solutions I have seen from some of these companies.