4 ms·

Damn, it really feels like something is about to be lost here. As a child, crawling the Argos catalogue, day dreaming about saving up for some tacky product was

by bArray 6y ago

Damn, it really feels like something is about to be lost here. As a child, crawling the Argos catalogue, day dreaming about saving up for some tacky product was somewhat wholesome. At Christmas I remember arguing over looking through the book at Christmas! For me it caused me to realize the value of different items, especially saving up from a paper-round and having to hand over weeks of hard-earned cash for some goods.

Bobbcatt 6y ago
You could do the exact same thing with an online catalogue... Although the physicality of it is lost.
agumonkey 6y ago
There's something about the pacing of pre-internet era. Emotionally it made you wonder more. Both a plus and a minus, but to me I consider slower tempo better than the hectic instantaneous way of today.
deanclatworthy 6y ago
I can relate. Countless hours reading the whole Argos catalogue (and I mean the whole thing, minus women's jewellery). To those who grew up outside the UK, Argos is an icon in the retail space. This is the end of an era, as they just become another Amazon.
- aclelland 6y ago
  Ah yeah, the Argos catalogue. I used to walk past their stores on my way to work. You'd see hundreds of them on pallets outside the store for people to take. By the end of each day the pile would always be much smaller as they were pretty popular. During lockdown here in the UK I've used Argos quite a few times and I've been pretty impressed with their service. I've got same day deliveries on a whole bunch of items which Amazon were going to take 3-4 days to deliver (even on prime). That and not having to trawl through hundreds of cloned products and not knowing if reviews are legitimate, it was a pretty relaxing process.
  - rahimnathwani 6y ago
    > I've got same day deliveries on a whole bunch of items > which Amazon were going to take 3-4 days to deliver > (even on prime). During the early part of lockdown, there was a period of several weeks when Wahl hair clippers were impossible to find in Argos (online or store) or Amazon.co.uk, even though many similar models were plentiful here in the US (and even being sold at a discount). It was a frustrating experience searching on the Argos web site (as you can't filter out items which aren't in stock locally). But the popular models came in stock at Argos before they did at Amazon.co.uk (at least first party, regular price).
- gambiting 6y ago
  I mean, in some ways they have been consistently beating amazon. They are usually my first go-to(or were before lockdown) because nearly everything could be delivered same day, while Prime Now has such a limited selection it's not even worth checking. Also the ability to just go somewhere and collect the item you want is a massive advantage over amazon.
stevekemp 6y ago
Very similar feelings for me. There were two catalogs I used to browse regularly as a child in the UK, Argos (+index) and the Maplin electronics catalog.
- HeckFeck 6y ago
  I vaguely remember visiting an Index, but they're long gone now. I think Littlewoods was another catalogue retailer.
- C1sc0cat 6y ago
  Ah yes Maplins :-) and for work The RS (not Radio Shack) and Black Box catalogues. My first place the electronics shop had a special account for RS - I remember my co-worker buying joysticks from RS to hook up to his BBC B

by bArray 6y ago

Bobbcatt 6y ago

You could do the exact same thing with an online catalogue... Although the physicality of it is lost.

agumonkey 6y ago

There's something about the pacing of pre-internet era. Emotionally it made you wonder more. Both a plus and a minus, but to me I consider slower tempo better than the hectic instantaneous way of today.

deanclatworthy 6y ago

I can relate. Countless hours reading the whole Argos catalogue (and I mean the whole thing, minus women's jewellery). To those who grew up outside the UK, Argos is an icon in the retail space. This is the end of an era, as they just become another Amazon.

aclelland 6y ago
Ah yeah, the Argos catalogue. I used to walk past their stores on my way to work. You'd see hundreds of them on pallets outside the store for people to take. By the end of each day the pile would always be much smaller as they were pretty popular. During lockdown here in the UK I've used Argos quite a few times and I've been pretty impressed with their service. I've got same day deliveries on a whole bunch of items which Amazon were going to take 3-4 days to deliver (even on prime). That and not having to trawl through hundreds of cloned products and not knowing if reviews are legitimate, it was a pretty relaxing process.
- rahimnathwani 6y ago
  > I've got same day deliveries on a whole bunch of items > which Amazon were going to take 3-4 days to deliver > (even on prime). During the early part of lockdown, there was a period of several weeks when Wahl hair clippers were impossible to find in Argos (online or store) or Amazon.co.uk, even though many similar models were plentiful here in the US (and even being sold at a discount). It was a frustrating experience searching on the Argos web site (as you can't filter out items which aren't in stock locally). But the popular models came in stock at Argos before they did at Amazon.co.uk (at least first party, regular price).
gambiting 6y ago
I mean, in some ways they have been consistently beating amazon. They are usually my first go-to(or were before lockdown) because nearly everything could be delivered same day, while Prime Now has such a limited selection it's not even worth checking. Also the ability to just go somewhere and collect the item you want is a massive advantage over amazon.

stevekemp 6y ago

Very similar feelings for me. There were two catalogs I used to browse regularly as a child in the UK, Argos (+index) and the Maplin electronics catalog.

HeckFeck 6y ago
I vaguely remember visiting an Index, but they're long gone now. I think Littlewoods was another catalogue retailer.
C1sc0cat 6y ago
Ah yes Maplins :-) and for work The RS (not Radio Shack) and Black Box catalogues. My first place the electronics shop had a special account for RS - I remember my co-worker buying joysticks from RS to hook up to his BBC B