h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I just heard in the news about Sainsbury's buying Argos, and I just started wondering, is there any point in the Argos model now?

Years ago, shopping at Argos had a certain convenience. You looked at the catalogue in the comfort of your own home, had a browse, and then all you had to to was go to the shop and pay and collect it.

The disadvantage was you couldn't actually see the physical goods before you bought them.

Now, in the age of online shopping, it seems like you get the disadvantages of both online shopping and shopping in brick and mortar shops. Namely, you have still can't see the goods before you buy, but you have to go out of your way to travel to the shop.

Argos is really just like an Amazon with more inconvenient delivery policies, isn't it?

"Argos is really just like an Amazon with more inconvenient delivery policies, isn't it?"

I disagree, depending.....

If you live in Wyoming, the nearest Amazon fulfillment center will be in Nevada, Kansas, or Minnesota. By contrast, if Argo is within a few miles of your home or office, and you have easy transportation, you can get your stuff with relative ease, and faster than it would take for an Amazon drone to bring it to you.

So, it depends on how far you are from Argos, how important seeing the merchandise is before you buy it, and how much expense you want to incur by fetching it yourself.

We use Argus a lot now; not to buy from it, but as a useful nearby collection point for Amazon/EBay puchrases; judging by the huge que always there, for people collecting goods delivered there, from other retailers, it is all they do nowdays; having said which we did then buy a clothes horse from them, as it was the nearest shop to the house to buy, and carry back a big item like that, without the inconvenience of ordering it online and missing it arrive at the house and its ultimate failure to fit through the letterbox, and being only availible to collect from a center which is only accessible by car... - maybe sainsbury will use it as a collection point for sainsburys click n collect items?

That sounds like a good arrangemnt, 2Legs.

I find Argos very convenient. It means the goods I've browsed for at my leisure on-line can be collected at my convenience, rather than delivered at the convenience of a delivery firm. But then I have a high street Argos 10 minutes walk from the office, plus a shopping park one convenient for on the way home. Returns are also minimally inconvenient.

Deb

John Lewis have a good delivery system Free to any Waitrose for your collection.

like anthing only works if your near the store!- oddly here, Waitrose and Argos are basically nextdoor, and not far walk from the front door and one of the corner shops even nerer serves as a delivery collection point for certain small things

Sop many things I didn't even suspect. And they seem to be really good to have.

I like the Argos catalogue because it has the dimensions of white goods and furniture in an easy to find place (websites do not always have this). I also like browsing through the catalogue.

Hardly ever buy anything there, though. So, yeah, pointless.

Mol

I bought a set of saucepans and a Nutribullet there yesterday. Very pleasant and quick experience.

When I read the title "the Argos model", I assumed the thread would be about someone in an advert.

It is less worrying to take things back to Argos, rather than repackage them and trust them to the mail system.

WS, I'll be interested in hearing about the NutriBullet. I have a smoothiemaker but I wonder if a Bullet would have been better.

Its OK but its a one trick wonder, to be fair it dose everything it is supposed to and dose it very well. But you tend to spend extra time shopping to feed it, and as the ingredients need should be fresh you have to shop at least 2 times a week. Its also small for a kitchen blender.

However if you have fruit trees its a winner

I already make daily smoothies and don't have a problem with a weekly shop. I suspect, however, that it is better at raw veggies and nuts than the one I use.

Sounds ideal for you they are good for smoothies and the like

At first, I thought that the Argos model would be a beautiful woman who was trapped in the American embassy in Tehran in 1979. She would escape by posing as part of a group making the film "Argo."

I find the Argos experience a bit of a pain tbh. All those damn skeletons getting in the way all the time

http://theargonauts.com/about/images/jason-and-the-argonauts-battling-skeleton-warriors.jpg

I pity the poor soul who had to queue up and saw each bone being put on the shelves behind the counter one at a time, but can't collect any of the skeleton until all 206 bones have been put on the shelf, and then all 206 are then put on the counter and stamped 'Collected'.

Argos will always be associated with Richard E Grant and being Lithuanian

There are two Argoses within ten minutes' walk from where I work, which is handy, but only one on the Isle of Wight right in Carisbrooke, so a trip to Argos was a day out. Quite a lot of stuff in my flat that didn't come from second-hand book shops came from Argos.

<BB<

Check this out:

https://issuu.com/retromash/docs/argos-no02-1974

What strikes me about the old catalogues is the comparative paucity of stock. A slim volume with four or five objects to a page, with extensive descriptions contrasts with the phone-book style thing of today, with dozens of things rammed onto every page with a terse title/catalogue number/price next to each.

Another observation: in that original catalogue, it gives the "comparative retail" price, i.e. what you'd expect to pay in a "normal" shop. The selling point wasn't just convenience, it was price - no shop floor as such, and no sales staff as such, and certainly no commission, meant lower prices. Those were the days...

And lo, some time ago, the laminated book of dreams was no more...