Argos (retailer)

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Argos Limited
FormerlyArgos Distributors Limited (1972–1999)[1]
Company type
Subsidiary
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HeadquartersLondon, England
Number of locations
664 (2025)
Area served
United Kingdom
Ireland (formerly)
China (formerly)
India (formerly)
Key people
Simon Roberts (CEO)
ProductsConsumer goods
BrandsBush
Chad Valley
Habitat
Tu
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OwnerSainsbury's
Number of employees
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ParentArgos Holdings Limited[2]
Websiteargos.co.uk

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Argos Limited is a British retailer founded in 1972 by Richard Tompkins. Tompkins established Argos by evolving his existing Green Shield Stamps concept. Argos retained Green Shield Stamps' catalogue-store model, where customers browse from a book rather than from shelves.[4]

In 1979, Argos was acquired by BAT Industries.[5] Over the years, it became a prominent trader in toys, jewellery, electronics, and home furnishings. In 1996, Argos expanded into Ireland.[6] In 1998, Argos was acquired by the GUS plc conglomerate and expanded to reach a peak of 800 standalone stores. GUS was later spun-off to form Home Retail Group, with Argos as its flagship retailer. From 2007 to 2009, Argos traded in India, and from 2011 to 2013, Argos traded in China.[7][8]

In 2016, Home Retail Group (including Argos) was acquired by Sainsbury's, which introduced Argos in its main stores and created Argos Collection Points in Sainsbury's Local shops. Since then, many Argos shops have closed, the print catalogue has been discontinued in favour of its consumer website, and the company has integrated tablets within its stores. In June 2023, Argos exited the Irish market due to poor trading conditions and high costs.[9] In September 2025, Argos had 664 stores across the United Kingdom, with 461 of these being located within Sainsbury's supermarkets.[10]

History

1973–2014

File:Argos Logo.png
Former Argos logo, used between 1999 and 2010

The company was founded by Richard Tompkins, who had previously established Green Shield Stamps, a concept where people could purchase goods from his "Green Shield Gift House" with cash rather than savings stamps. Green Shield Stamps was rebranded as Argos, in July 1973,[4] the first purpose-built shop opening on the A28 Sturry Road, Canterbury, in late 1973.[11]

Argos achieved revenues of £1 million in a week, for the first time, in November 1975.[12] Argos was purchased by BAT in 1979 for £32 million.[13] That year the company had achieved turnover of over £100 million.[14] The company was demerged from BAT and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1990.[15]

Argos entered the Irish market in 1996.[6] In April 1998, the company was acquired by GUS plc for £1.9 billion, the result of a hostile takeover.[16][17] A few months later, after a brief leadership stint under Stuart Rose, Terry Duddy became the new chief executive of Argos, serving in the role until 2014.[18]

In May 2002, Argos along with retailer Littlewoods Index, was accused by the Office of Fair Trading of price fixing goods from toy manufacturer Hasbro.[19] In 2003 Argos were fined £17.28 million,[20] reduced to £15 million after an appeal in 2005.[21] The Court of Appeal dismissed a further appeal in October 2006.[22]

In July 2002, Argos dismissed several workers in Scotland for refusing to work on Sundays.[23] This action was illegal in the rest of the United Kingdom, due to the Sunday Trading Act 1994 which did not apply in Scotland. Argos later retracted its decision and ceased enforcing a Sunday working clause in Scottish employee contracts,[24] and this led to the passing of the Sunday Working (Scotland) Act 2003.

File:Argos, Victoria Lane, Huddersfield (April 2010) 001.jpg
Argos branch in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire

In October 2006, Argos became part of Home Retail Group which was demerged from GUS plc on 11 October 2006.[25][26]

In February 2007, Argos opened five shops in Mumbai, India. Argos had a franchise agreement, run in conjunction with HyperCity; its Indian retail partner. In January 2009, Argos closed all its shops in India owing to poor sales.[27][28]

In 2008, sofas from retailers including Argos were featured on BBC Watchdog due to them causing health reactions. The sofas were manufactured by Chinese company LinkWise.[29] Argos later agreed to compensate consumers impacted. The cause was a sachet, inside the sofas, of fungicidal chemical dimethyl fumarate, used to prevent mould.[30]

Following the collapse of Woolworth's, Argos acquired brands including Alba, Bush, and Chad Valley, in 2009.[31][32]

Argos profits were declining in 2011 to 2012.[33] As a result, Argos announced in October 2012 that they would close some of their stores and increase focus on digital retailing.[34]

Argos teamed up with Barnardo's in a six-week campaign in the run-up to Christmas 2012 that raised £700,000 for the children's charity. Customers brought in unwanted toys to Argos or Barnado's shops in return for £5 Argos vouchers. Argos gave the unwanted toys to Barnado's to sell in the charity's own chain of shops.[35]

2015–present

In January 2015, Argos took over the rights to sell the Cherokee clothing line from Tesco;[36] however, this was phased out in 2017 in favour of Sainsbury's own Tu brand of clothing.

File:Argos Extra - geograph.org.uk - 973872.jpg
Argos Extra shop in Cambridge in 2008. The 'Extra' brand was phased out in 2010. As of August 2026, some stores still use the Extra brand.

In April 2016, Argos' parent Home Retail Group agreed to a £1.4 billion takeover by Sainsbury's, following a bidding war between the supermarket chain and South African conglomerate Steinhoff International.[37] The acquisition was completed on 2 September 2016.[38]

On 25 September 2019, Sainsbury's announced that up to 70 Argos stores would be closed and 80 Sainsbury's stores would now include an Argos.[39] In July 2020 the company announced that Argos would no longer print catalogues and would instead list its products online.[40] Over the course of 93 editions, 10 million copies were printed per edition at its peak.[41] On 5 November 2020, Sainsbury's announced it would close 420 Argos standalone outlets by March 2024, together with other measures that included 3,500 jobs losses across Sainsbury's to save £600 million. John Colley, associate dean of Warwick Business School commented that the closures were an admission that its purchase of Argos had been a mistake, however integrating Argos into Sainsbury's stores had been planned from the outset of the acquisition.[42]

On 24 June 2023, Argos ceased its operations in Ireland, due to challenging trading conditions, high rents and because the investment required to modernise the business in Ireland was considered unviable.[43][44][45][46] In the same month Argos closed its head office on Avebury Boulevard, Milton Keynes, and moved their registered office to Sainsbury's head office in Holborn, London.[47][48]

On 13 September 2025, Sainsbury's held negotiations for the sale of Argos to Chinese online retailer JD.com, stating that "JD.com would bring world-class retail, technology and logistics expertise and invest to drive Argos' growth and further transform the customer experience", though it also said that "no agreement has been reached".[49] A day later, it abandoned the sale.[50]

File:Argos, Salter Row, Pontefract (25th April 2019).jpg
An Argos branch in Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

Past projects

File:Interior of Argos, Pontefract (17th August 2025) 002.jpg
Interior of Argos in Pontefract in 2025

ArgosCompare

Argos operated a financial services price comparison website, in conjunction with BeatThatQuote.com.[51] In January 2012, ArgosCompare was taken offline, as it did not comply with new guidance issued by the UK Financial Service Authority.[52]

Argos Credit Card

In August 2006, Barclays and Argos announced a joint venture to produce an Argos Credit Card.[53] In 2024, Sainsbury's agreed a deal to divest the Argos credit card business to NewDay for £720 million.[54][55]

ArgosTV

On 15 June 2011, ArgosTV was launched on Sky channel 642.[56] From October 2011 it was available on Freesat, on channel 819.[57][58] On 19 September 2012, ArgosTV launched on Freeview, on channel 55 for a limited set of hours.[58] In 2013, Argos announced that it would no longer continue operating ArgosTV.[57]

References

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  3. ^ a b c Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Annual Report and Financial Statements 2016" (PDF). Home Retail Group. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
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