Shopper ‘Told To Go To Chester’ To Get Argos Catalogue

The phasing out of the old style Argos Catalogue has upset one shopper in Wrexham, as they were told to ‘go to Chester’ to get a copy.

Update: After popping a link to this article on our Facebook page the story gets more bleak, with people being sent to Whitchurch, Oswestry or even Mold to get a copy of the bargain bible. It appears the print free trial is for 23 Argos stores which Wrexham is two.

Nicola posted up: “Its ridiculous i was told to go to Chester, Oswestry or Whitchurch store for the new catalogue because BOTH of wrexham stores were on a internet trial how bloody stupid they should have had them in at least one of the Wrexham stores.”

You can read more comments on our Facebook page by clicking here.

Original information below…

Argos have a rolling programme of modernisation where old style paper catalogues based systems are being replaced with ‘digital stores’ that focus on online click and collect orders and using instore tablets to browse and select products, and it appears Wrexham is now modern.

One shopper who has posted his account on the Wrexham.com Forums has said, “Yesterday, I visited both Wrexham Argos stores for a new catalogue for my wife. I was told that both stores are now going digital, we can only go online or visit the store to order goods.”

“What about the Less able and elderly people of Wrexham and district? Many don’t have or use computers, being disabled they cannot visit the stores.”

The lack of catalogue was apparently raised locally with management, with the reply repeated as a confirmation that it had been removed and a apology for upset and inconvenience caused – with the shopper advised to go to Chester.

John Walden, chief executive of Home Retail who own Argos, has previously said he had been ‘surprised’ by the reluctance to let of of the paper catalogue, “To be honest it has surprised me. I would have estimated at the start of the plan that it would have dropped off faster. But I’m happy to see it is something Argos is known for uniquely.”

It is said Argos still print around 7,000,000 copies of their catalogue ever year, with two seasonal editions.

The poster has since updated today, saying “Since this post Argos are kindly sending a copy by mail, but the cost must me inhibitive and we did not expect to be made an exception. ”

For those interested Argos brought the catalogue system in during 1973, and there is an excellent site on http://retromash.com/argos/ documenting many historic copies including the one below!

The ongoing debate on the forums can be found here.