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RIP the Argos catalogue

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    #26
    But yes, before the world-wide web, there was the Argos catalogue, Ceefax and Teletext.

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      #27
      Originally posted by KyleRoteJr. View Post
      Sounds like the annual Sears Christmas catalog in the States. As thick as a phonebook, it was an iconic institution for generations (not sure when it was discontinued).

      When I was a kid back in the '70s, every child would longingly flip through the extensive toy section – all in color with the greatest stuff on offer. It was called the "Wish Book."

      Now even Sears the store is on life support; they're closing the one in my town, which has been here forever.
      I've never seen a Sears catalogue, but I suspect they were closer to the catalogues from the likes of Grattan's, Littlewoods, Zetters and the like, which were a lot bulkier than the likes of Argos. Certainly, my memories of looking at toys and dreaming of Christmas are more to do with those.

      Also, Grattan's etc. used the agent system (so an aunt or cousin would take and collate the orders and get a commission) but Argos just had the shops, no?

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        #28
        Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post

        They dropped those for touch screens a while back.
        Nooo. Really? Ours still had them earlier this year.

        edit: we had touch screens accompanied by the laminated catalogue.
        Last edited by HORN Reborn; 31-07-2020, 07:56.

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          #29
          Originally posted by sw2borshch View Post

          I've never seen a Sears catalogue, but I suspect they were closer to the catalogues from the likes of Grattan's, Littlewoods, Zetters and the like, which were a lot bulkier than the likes of Argos.
          Maybe that was true with the 300-400 page Argos catalogues of the 80s and 90s, but not so much with the 1,400-page monsters of recent years.

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            #30
            Ah, ok, I didn't know that had happened.

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              #31
              Were Argos in any way connected to Green Shield stamps? I recall days out in my childhood - driving to (I think) Colwyn Bay - it may have been Rhyl - to hand over thousands of books and pick up a toaster or a cutlery set in return.

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                #32
                Originally posted by Gangster Octopus View Post
                I'd never heard of Argos until the middle nineties. I can't remember the last time that I was in one.
                Presume it was the same in most towns but we had Argos and the similar Index (which no one has mentioned in all this) in fairly close proximity so it was often the case that you'd flit between the two to compare before making a purchase (or have the two catalogues side by side at home).

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                  #33
                  Memories of the Argos catalogue:-

                  https://twitter.com/judeinlondon2/status/1288791345361018880

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                    #34
                    Originally posted by sw2borshch View Post

                    I've never seen a Sears catalogue, but I suspect they were closer to the catalogues from the likes of Grattan's, Littlewoods, Zetters and the like, which were a lot bulkier than the likes of Argos. Certainly, my memories of looking at toys and dreaming of Christmas are more to do with those.
                    You may be right, as, conversely, I’ve never seen an Argos catalog.

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                      #35
                      Originally posted by Gangster Octopus View Post
                      When I first saw him live, he all but hid behind his music. By the last time that I saw him, the music was almost secondary to the, er, I was going to say stand up, but really it was just him talking.
                      I quite enjoyed the act when he was one of the Rubber Bishops (with Martin Stubbs), but don't go a bundle on his solo stuff. (His dissing in interview of our NMTB researchers didn't help much, either.)

                      Originally posted by Vicarious Thrillseeker View Post
                      Were Argos in any way connected to Green Shield stamps? I recall days out in my childhood - driving to (I think) Colwyn Bay - it may have been Rhyl - to hand over thousands of books and pick up a toaster or a cutlery set in return.
                      Yes, basically - it replaced the scheme over a period of time during the seventies. (I also remember licking and sticking pages and pages of these things for a kettle or whatever, as a wee scrabster during the late sixties/early seventies.)

                      https://www.theguardian.com/business...sco-sainsburys

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                        #36
                        Originally posted by Ginger Yellow View Post
                        They dropped those for touch screens a while back.
                        Blimey, I'm sure I popped into the out-of-town Argos by Cardiff only this spring and there were surely still the laminated catalogues in-store then. Maybe the touchscreens haven't made their way this far out into the provinces yet.

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                          #37
                          The Green Shield connection

                          The company was founded by Richard Tompkins who had previously established Green Shield Stamps in the United Kingdom. Whilst on holiday in the Greek city of Argos,[citation needed] he came up with the idea that people could purchase goods from his "Green Shield Gift House" with cash rather than savings stamps. He rebranded the original Green Shield Stamps catalogue shops as Argos beginning in July 1973, the first purpose-built shop opening on the A28 Sturry Road, Canterbury in late 1973. Green Shield House was in Station Road, Edgware.

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                            #38
                            Originally posted by 3 Colours Red View Post
                            And thanks for finding that clip 3CR, I'd forgotten just how good it was!


                            I appreciate where you're coming from Jah Womble , though he's been one of my favourites for years now. It seems fairly clear that Bailey was soured on Never Mind The Buzzcocks by some time before he finally left the programme – I think he felt the calibre of guests had gone sharply downhill, I've certainly come across one or two disparaging remarks about having to pretend to give a stuff about the thoughts of whatever ephemeral clueless pop numpty he was lumbered with on his team each week. Sorry to hear he seems to have also taken it out on the researchers though.

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                              #39
                              Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                              Blimey, I'm sure I popped into the out-of-town Argos by Cardiff only this spring and there were surely still the laminated catalogues in-store then. Maybe the touchscreens haven't made their way this far out into the provinces yet.
                              Maybe it's just the store formats they have in London then. I haven't been in an old-school full size one in ages.

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                                #40
                                Found myself - after trying to google your gossip JahW- on the Never mind the Buzzcocks wikiquote pages

                                Gosh there was a lot of homophobia( in the early days anyway)

                                and that it ran for so long




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                                  #41
                                  Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                  The Green Shield connection

                                  [/SUP]

                                  Wow! I had absolutely no idea that the two entities were connected. I remember helping my mum put page after page of the stamps into the books, as one had to, but vaguely thought that she used them to get money off of her grocery shops.

                                  Wasn't there some sort of pink stamp competitor?

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                                    #42
                                    Oh goodness yes, Green Shield stamps became Argos. The stores were rebranded etc.
                                    Last edited by DCI Harry Batt; 31-07-2020, 12:52.

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                                      #43
                                      I didn't know about the Green Shield to Argos thing.

                                      Somewhere I have still got a wine cooler that was a reward for smoking several hundred Silk Cut cigarettes.

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                                        #44
                                        Although our local Tesco issued Pink Stamps our nearest Pink Shield Stamps showroom was in fact in Bristol, meaning that once we'd accumulated sufficient stamps we had to make a 35 mile bus trip to spend them.

                                        One particular trip stands out. That 7th Cavalry fort (complete with figures) was going to be mine, all mine. Yet upon arrival at Bristol we discovered a new catalogue devoid of said fort.

                                        I returned home with a leather football that wouldn't fully inflate. It lay unused in the shed, eventually covered in red paint following a shelf collapse, a symbol of the crushing disappointments of childhood.

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                                          #45
                                          Originally posted by Benjm View Post
                                          I didn't know about the Green Shield to Argos thing.

                                          Somewhere I have still got a wine cooler that was a reward for smoking several hundred Silk Cut cigarettes.
                                          One of my mates had a memorable put-down (which I can only guess he'd stolen from somewhere else), that someone looking miserable looked like they "nearly had enough Lambert and Butler coupons for a Mini Metro but had just found out they'd stopped doing them".

                                          On Green Shield stamps I also remember sticking in loads and loads of them at once - I assume that my parents (well, my mother as my dad rarely went shopping) used to keep them in a drawer and blitz them once a year or so, but I vaguely remember them getting a load from someone else (maybe my grandmother) which led to a frenzied updating of the books to get whatever domestic appliance was suddenly within reach.

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                                            #46
                                            They switched over to something called Premier Points in the late 80s/early 90s. It used a magnetic swipe card and launched with one of the most piss-irritating adverts ever made. I won't link to it here because I don't want to be held responsible for a spate of murderous rampages.

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                                              #47
                                              Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                                              Blimey, I'm sure I popped into the out-of-town Argos by Cardiff only this spring and there were surely still the laminated catalogues in-store then. Maybe the touchscreens haven't made their way this far out into the provinces yet.
                                              Which one was that VA? All the ones I've been to recently have touchscreens where you pay for items. We usually reserve stuff then enter the code on the touchscreen.

                                              (Are you sure it was this spring?)

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                                                #48
                                                Wasn't Tesco pulling out the death-knell for green shield stamps?

                                                My nan had a librenza acquired with Kensitas coupons.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                                                  I appreciate where you're coming from Jah Womble , though he's been one of my favourites for years now. It seems fairly clear that Bailey was soured on Never Mind The Buzzcocks by some time before he finally left the programme – I think he felt the calibre of guests had gone sharply downhill, I've certainly come across one or two disparaging remarks about having to pretend to give a stuff about the thoughts of whatever ephemeral clueless pop numpty he was lumbered with on his team each week. Sorry to hear he seems to have also taken it out on the researchers though.
                                                  Well, I'll concede that he wasn't wrong about that - but the entire production seemed to become increasingly nebulous and 'phoned-in - *ahem* - after I left.

                                                  This was probably coincidental. Or perhaps it wasn't.

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                                                    #50
                                                    When we lived in Helsinki, our secretary moved to London and phoned to ask what the catalogue was as there was one in her flat when she moved in. Then explaining to the folk sat round me in the office how Argos worked was a long half hour...

                                                    you look in the book and write a code down on a bit of paper

                                                    you can’t see the stuff? It’s just in a book?

                                                    yes, it’s in the warehouse downstairs

                                                    why can’t you just go down and get it?

                                                    because it comes up in a lift

                                                    wouldn’t it be just easier to work like a normal shop?

                                                    well, no, it’s Argos

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