Big news today… I’ve uploaded all the PDFs I have in my Argos catalogue collection.
Like most people, I get that warm fuzzy feeling when you think back to Christmases past and all the exciting presents you got. For me, one of the big parts of Christmas was flicking through the Argos catalogue to try to decide what toys and games I would want. I used to spend hours just pouring over the fantastic photography that sparked my imagination every time I looked at them. I’ve become hooked on collecting these Argos catalogues now. For me they are a direct window back to a simpler time. There was of course no internet back then and this was the best way to research the toys and spark your imagination without having to travel to a toy shop. They are a snapshot of a culture and a technology which is often long gone in the psyche of the modern plugged-in world we live in now.
It always makes me smile looking at the old clunky VHS players and cassette players. Not to mention some of the dodgy fashions of the models!
At the time of writing I’ve managed to get hold of 16 physical copies of old Argos catalogues and 38 PDF versions. Here are a few of my favourite pages but to see the rest just go over to the Argos catalogues page.
My favourite section is definitely the Toys and Games. In particular the action figures, seeing what figures were on sale that year including Masters of the Universe, Transformers, A-Team, Thundercats, M.A.S.K. etc. But there are so many other areas I love within this section too such as the board games, the handheld electronic games, the plush toys and the slot cars.
Another section I particularly love looking at is the watches. I used to love all the quirky digital watches that came out in the 80s. I still wear a re-release of the Casio Databank to this day.
And the electronics and music section always makes me smile. Seeing the ‘cutting edge’ technologies of the personal stereos, radio cassette alarm clocks, ghetto blasters and VHS players is fantastic.
The picture near the top of the post shows the physical copies of Argos catalogues I have acquired, some of which I’ve not managed to get in digital form yet, but for now check out the link below of the PDF versions and relive all the above memories. Remember what it feels like to be 6 years old and (if you’ve been a good boy/girl) why not try and decide what you want for Christmas this year. Check out the full array of catalogues over on the Argos catalogues page.
Niki
Apr 3, 2015 -
Hi Retromash! This is amazing, I’ve been having fun reminiscing over the Argos catalogues. I’m putting together a piece on how toys have changed over the years, and wondered if you’d mind if I used the images from your PDFs? I was also wondering if you have any plans for more recent catalogues (I think 2000 + can now be thought of as retro *god I’m old!*).
Hope to hear from you soon
Niki
Retromash
May 26, 2015 -
Sorry Niki, I really thought I had replied to your comment! Yes, that would be fine to use images from the PDFs. If you can mention Retromash that would be great. No plans to cover 2000+ just yet I’m afraid. I’m still catching up on my 80s + 90s backlog! Thanks for your comments. Michael
andrew varndell
May 20, 2015 -
i recently aquired a 1989 argos catalogue,so many memories come flooding back when i look at it,will be aquiring more now!
Retromash
May 26, 2015 -
Great stuff, Andrew. Enjoy the trips down memory lane! Michael
Daniel giddings
May 29, 2015 -
I rescued some old Argos catalogues from the skip when I worked at the head office. Got a couple from the 70’s and a few from the 80’s. I love looking through them and showing my daughter’s at all the old toys!
Retromash
May 31, 2015 -
Nice! Glad to hear that you saved some from the skip. Good work!
James
Aug 13, 2015 -
Hi, wow I have been showing my family these pdfs of the old Argos catalogues. My girl just can’t believe that her nan used to use the pifco princess hairdryer, then I showed her it still working after what 40 years and here’s her with her babyliss 2 speed 3 heat turbo powered dryer. She said I could never dry my hair with that old one, I politely told her that when I was her age I used to dry my hair with it, it was either sit still for 10 minutes and let nan dry your hair or catch a cold and a bad stiff neck. I know what I would prefer.
Retromash
Aug 13, 2015 -
Ha. That’s great. I’m glad that your whole family enjoyed looking at them.
lydia
Aug 14, 2015 -
I am looking for a winnie the pooh quilt and bumper set from the 1999 argos catalogue can anyone help please…..
Retromash
Aug 14, 2015 -
Hi Lydia,
I’ve personally never come across an old bedding set from the 80s but you may have more luck with one from 1999. I assume you’ve looked on eBay. Good luck with your hunt!
Michael
Gemma McCloy
Feb 24, 2016 -
Hi there. My mum told me about this website and me being 24 and with a 4 year old it’s so fun looking back at the toys I had back when I was his age. However I’m trying to find a picture of a teddy bear my late gran got me for Christmas. I’m sure I was still in primary school so it would have been in 2000-2003 catalogues. Was wondering if you have any of these catalogues and if you are going to be uploading them.
Thanks :) x
Retromash
Feb 24, 2016 -
Hi Gemma, I’m glad you’ve enjoyed looking at the site. I’m afraid I don’t have any post-2000 catalogues. I only cover up until about 1995. Sorry I can’t help you there. If you look on eBay you can often find DVDs with scanned versions of the Argos catalogues. I hope you find what you’re looking for.
Michael
kate
Mar 3, 2016 -
Hi I’ve been recently looking for toys I used to collect in the early to mid 90s which I’m 99% sure we’re bought from argos. If you have seen anything that looks like a bigger version of a lovable bear with the bottles, I think they’re either puppies or rabbits it would be great if you knew the name I’ve been trying to find them for years, thanks.
Retromash
Mar 3, 2016 -
Hi Katie. I’m afraid I’m not familiar with those toys you mentioned. I’ll certainly keep an eye out though!
George
May 27, 2016 -
Great to see all those Argos catalogues over the years. I could instantly recognise the front cover of the 1980s catalogues (1982 onwards) as to which year and which time of year they were from. The Spring and Summer ones had a lighter cover and the Autumn and Winter ones had a darker one.
There was a difference between Spring and Summer and the Autumn and Winter one, as well as the colour of the covers – Spring and Summer ones in the 1980s often had Sun Pearl garden furniture and parasols in its opening pages, as well as things like sports equipment, DIY and that sort of thing. Autumn and Winter catalogues in comparison had Elizabeth Duke jewellery in it opening pages, and had an extended toys and games section towards the end of the book.
My late mother had kept the Autumn and Winter 1982 edition of the Argos catalogue as a kind of sub-scrapbook where she placed local newspaper cuttings between the pages, rather than stick them in the book of course!
I hope that there is someone on the planet who has all 85 or so copies of the Argos catalogue in their possession!
Retromash
May 27, 2016 -
Thanks a lot for your comments George. Glad to hear you have happy memories of the Argos catalogue too! Not sure if you saw my main page about Argos catalogues? https://retromash.com/argos/ It has a list of all of them up until the mid 90s. I’ve got most of them viewable as PDFs and I currently have 16 hard copies in my own collection.
Adele T
Jun 25, 2016 -
Thank you for all this nostalgia! I am actually really enjoying this website. I have been waiting for years for someone to do something like this. One question though.. Why are the Jewelry pages not included? I would really love to see them. :) Thanks.
Retromash
Jun 26, 2016 -
Hi Adele, Thanks a lot for your comment. Well spotted about the jewellery. Unfortunately the file size of the PDFs were too big to upload to Issuu so I had to remove some pages, and of all the sections in the catalogues I thought the jewellery would be of the least interest to people and would be the least ‘retro’ of everything. If you let me know what year you are interested in I’m happy sending you a hi-res PDF in a private email. Thanks. Michael
Emma
Jan 31, 2017 -
Hi I wonder if you can help me I am trying to find my engagement ring that I have lost it would be in the issues 2002-2004 do u have these ? I have searched everywhere trying to find replica but to no avail
Retromash
Jan 31, 2017 -
Hi Emma,
I’m very sorry to hear about your ring. I’m afraid to say I don’t have any catalogues past 1999.
I wish you all the best with your search.
Michael
Clare
Dec 10, 2016 -
Hi I’m really interested in seeing jewellery from 1993 onwards.
Lorraine Graham
Feb 18, 2017 -
Hi my elderly dad is trying to get a copy of a page on a Leather Suite he bought from argos 2012 catalogue.I’ve googled but can’t seems to track it down.Was wondering if you would mind sending us a copy of the page.It would b.much appreciated.eg.Ref 823/1259 Logan Leather Chair and 823/1321 Logan Leather Large Sofa are the.items.Thank you.Kind Regards.Lorraine Graham
Retromash
Feb 20, 2017 -
Hi Lorraine, I’m very sorry but I only have Argos catalogues going back to 1999. All I have is on this page https://retromash.com/argos/
Sorry I can’t be of more help. Good luck with your search. Michael
Anonymous
Apr 29, 2017 -
Hello, I am sorry to bother you but was just wondering if you would happen to have a 1983 Spring/Summer catalogue, as I am looking for the page of electric fans. If you do happen to have it, I would be very grateful if you could send it to me. Thank you very much
steven
Jun 10, 2018 -
this stuff is a treasure- especially if you want to re-create a time period and need accurate prop references!
Steve Gee
Aug 14, 2018 -
My brother was in the first Argos Catalogue – dressed as a cowboy (page 218) the kids next to him in bottom left was our next door neighbour. As I understand it my dad worked at the main warehouse in Daventry, which was originally the Green Shield warehouse and the photographer wanted some kids for the catalogue shoot so they asked some of the warehouse employees to help.
Retromash
Aug 14, 2018 -
Brilliant. That’s a fantastic claim to fame! Thanks a lot for sharing that Steve. Did your bother get to keep any of the toys by any chance?! I’ve just dug out the No.1 issue. Here’s the page…
Steve Gee
Aug 14, 2018 -
I don’t think so, but it was taken 5 years before I was born – I will find out. He’s 51 now and a grandad!
Lavinia
Jan 6, 2019 -
Hello Michael, Happy New Year! Many thanks for your hard work, takes me straight back to spending many hours searching through the Argos catalogue for Birthdays and Christmas! I am trying to find a piece of jewellery stollen in a burglary just before Christmas, it was bought from Argos between 1996 and 2000! Would it be possible for you to send me all the jewellery sections that you have between these dates? Many thanks in advance, Lavinia
Chris
Jun 3, 2019 -
Any luck with a 2002/2003 Argos catalogue? I want to go down memory lane because whenever I browse these catalogues I have no choice but to see the VTech toy computers as I had a vivid memory seeing them in there and wanting them so bad.
Retromash
Jun 4, 2019 -
Sorry Chris. Bit too modern for me!
Rachel
Aug 26, 2019 -
Thanks for your work, Michael. I can assure you there are huge swathes of the country for who the jewellery section would be pure nostalgia! I’ve stumbled across your page trying to answer an argument that arose between pals just last night regarding the price of a silver dolphin pendant in 1996.
My pals and I would now love to pour over the selection of 90’s Elizabeth Duke jewellery as we had in our early lives and I’m sure I represent a huge amount of women also. If you could fix this for us I would be eternally grateful!
Retromash
Aug 28, 2019 -
Hi Rachel, you probably saw in the comment above why I had to remove some pages from the catalogues, so that I could get the file sizes small enough to be accepted by Issuu.com. I lost some of my Argos PDFs too so I’m not sure if I have all the original jewellery sections any more I’m afraid. I will see if there is anything I can do but I certainly can’t promise anything I’m afraid. There are scans up on the Internet Archive I believe, and also CDs with PDFs available from eBay if you want to explore those routes too. Thanks. Michael
Richard Haring
Jan 6, 2022 -
Hi there,
I am looking to find the first Argos catalogues which stocked Andralok earrings which I think were around the year 2000.
Have you managed to find catalogues from this era?
Best wishes,
Richard
Retromash
Jan 7, 2022 -
Hi Richard. No I’m very sorry but I don’t have any PDFs after 1999. I just have all the ones on this page. https://retromash.com/argos/
Shoe Trends from the 80s: Hit or Miss? | Retromash
May 26, 2022 -
[…] rife with unique styles, many of which didn’t stand the test of time. If you weren’t around to shop for a pair of these themselves, then read on to discover the odd yet highly creative shoes that […]
Marie
Aug 21, 2022 -
I’d really LOVE to see the jewellery sections!!!
Daniel
Dec 10, 2022 -
Hi. Just wanted to leave a brief note to say thank you for putting this site up. Has been fantastic to look through some of these from my youth. Especially the RC car I ached for one Christmas and electric guitar for another.
Was finally able to id the rc car which had eluded me for 35 years.
Many many thanks again and kindest regards!
Darren Hayward
Mar 8, 2023 -
Has Issuu restricted access to your catalogues
Retromash
Mar 12, 2023 -
Hi Darren. Unfortunately it seems so. I’m currently investigating it.
Charlie
May 28, 2023 -
Any luck yet? Really wanted to check these out, what a brilliant collection :)
Retromash
Jun 8, 2023 -
Hi Charlie,
Good news. The Argos catalogues are back online.
Retromash
Jun 8, 2023 -
Hi Darren. Good news. I managed to get this fixed, and the Argos catalogues are now back online.
Hillie Lee
Aug 16, 2023 -
Hi, I. Would love a copy of the first Argos catalogue 1973/4, my husband was the toy buyer, and my son was i model . He loved that job and still talks about it.