For those who came of shopping age in the 1990s and early 2000s, Argos will likely be bound up with many nostalgia-drenched memories.
he doors of the first branches opened in the Republic in January 1996 – the same year Eimear Quinn won the Eurovision Song Contest. That was also the year in which the doomed Millennium Clock was installed in the Liffey and Wannabe stormed the charts.
While Argos had a branch in Belfast, when shops opened in Dublin, Nutgrove and Limerick, it unlocked a world of possibilities for consumers – one filled with Gameboys, calculators with seven million buttons, and Teasmade machines.
“Argos was a precursor for online and click-and-collect services but sadly it has now been taken over by online,” retail expert Eddie Shanahan said yesterday.
Comedian Bill Bailey dubbed the laminated in-store versions the “wipe-clean almanac of aspirations” and “the sanitised lexicon of possibility”
Mr Shanahan said in the 1990s, Argos acted as a sort of “halfway house between mail-order shopping like Oxendales and Spiegel” and regular department stores.
Basically, Argos was ideal for those who didn’t like being grilled by sales assistants but also didn’t enjoy the wait time or the unknown of catalogue shopping.
Before there were hundreds of TV channels showing endless adverts, the Argos catalogues offered a dizzying array of choices.
The hefty book grew from 250 pages in the 1970s to over 2,000 pages. That led comedian Bill Bailey to dub the laminated in-store versions the “wipe-clean almanac of aspirations” and “the sanitised lexicon of possibility”.
“Consumers love choice and there was so much choice in Argos and you could compare prices,” Mr Shanahan said.
Those first years, Irish families didn’t just peruse the catalogue, they studied it, circled items, turned down page corners and memorised the product numbers before venturing in store.
In 1996, the must-have items were Elizabeth Duke’s golden Claddagh rings, Scalextric car racing tracks, Singer Sewing Machines and Alba karaoke machines.
A look back at Argos’ best-selling list from each year is like boarding a time machine – reminding us of forgotten treasures of ephemera we had once been completely obsessed with.
Paul Mescal as Connell in Normal People, featuring that Argos chain.
Leigh Sparks, a professor of retail studies at Stirling University in Scotland, previously said the Argos catalogue was “an invaluable piece of social history, a window on retailing and consumer worlds that we no longer can accurately envisage”.
Yesterday, the retailer announced it would be closing down 34 Irish branches and 580 jobs would be lost. “We have not made this decision lightly and we are doing everything we can to support those impacted,” Andy McClelland, Argos Ireland operations manager, said.
I remember going through the catalogue at Christmas and circling things I wanted
Irish shoppers dashing into stores to collect storage containers, ironing boards and Peppa Pig toys were saddened by the news.
“I remember going through the catalogue at Christmas and circling things I wanted. My little sister did, too, and I came to this Argos to get my kids Christmas presents, bikes and things,” Naoise Mooney from Monkstown said outside the Dún Laoghaire branch yesterday afternoon.
Others recalled fond memories: carefully writing down Argos codes in letters to Santa; some chuckled thinking about the infuriatingly small biros in stores; or recalled queueing outside for jewellery ahead of Valentine’s Day.
A few people mentioned the starring role Connell’s Argos silver chain had in Normal People. Others wondered where else they would find such a variety of products under one roof.
“It just covered all bases,” Michelle Hack said. “I would buy kids stuff, yoga mats, a dog crate. There is so much variety. It is very handy. Even if they don’t have it in stock they can order it in the following day. And the price points are very reasonable.”
Amazon is handy but I’d rather go in and see what I am getting
Local man Tom Scanlon described the closures as “another victim of online shopping”.
Louise Caul from Loughlinstown said on occasion she used online services like Amazon, but preferred human interaction.
“Amazon is handy but I’d rather go in and see what I am getting, especially when it’s electrical stuff and talk to someone.”
Stephen Bannon added: “It’s face-to-face contact. The staff are brilliant, and knowledgeable. I’ve been giving my condolences to them all.”
What was unanimous was a deep sympathy for the attentive and friendly sales assistants, managers and staff who would soon be out of work, and disappointment that a store front along a busy shopping strip would soon be boarded up.
“It’s just terrible seeing all the jobs go,” Naoise Mooney said. “What’s going to happen to this shop now? It’s very sad.”
