Something we remember doing with much fondness when we were youngsters was browsing the toys section of the latest Argos catalogue. When our Birthday or Christmas was approaching, or when we simply wanted something fun to do, we would slowly look through the catalogue pages and sometimes even make lists of the toys and items we really wanted our parents to purchase for us.
Founded by Richard Tompkins whilst he was on holiday in the Greek city of (yes, you guessed it) Argos, Argos opened its first shop in Canterbury all the way back in 1973.
It now has 845 shops visited by 29 million customers every year, as well as nearly one billion online visitors in the same time frame.
We’ve dug out an Argos catalogue from 1986 in order to tickle your nostalgic taste buds and transport you back to your childhood.
Please peruse the pages below at your leisure, just like you did when you were a child, and be sure to post a comment letting us know which of the items you were lucky enough to own, which was your very favourite, as well as letting us know about your memories of this great British shopping institution.
We start with some lovely bed sheet memories, with some delightful duvet examples on this page including He-Man, She-Ra, ThunderCats and the Care Bears. Were you lucky enough to own any of them?
It’s fair to say that Camera technology has come on somewhat since the 1980s, but we still miss the days when you had to wind up the film, were restricted to under 30 shots, and had to send off the roll to be developed!
Some delightfully retro Ghetto Blasters here, and whilst they may have been big and bulky, those of us lucky enough to own one back in the 80s definitely thought they were the bee’s knees.
The brilliant 80s technology on this page includes a Speak and Spell and a Little Professor. Do you remember them?
Now we’re talking! Tomytronic 3D was way ahead of its time, and we still have a soft spot for both Maximus and Major Morgan.
We were blessed enough to own all four items in the top section of this page, and we remember playing with them like it was yesterday!
Here we have some classic retro board games, including Mouse Trap, Guess Who?, Downfall, Bed Bugs and the brilliant Ghost Castle.
Whilst we know you’ll all remember ThunderCats, who can put their hand up and say that they recall Sectaurs?
A whole page dedicated to the legendary toys that are M.A.S.K., looking at these different vehicles transports us right back to our childhood.
This 1986 catalogue features three whole pages dedicated to the popular Transformers, and less than one page for the inferior Gobots!
80s girls will probably experience some serious nostalgic butterflies in your tummy over the next few pages. We start with these delightful My Little Pony toys and accessories: Which of them were you lucky enough to get your hands on as a child?
Who remembers Wuzzles and Gummi Bears? And which character was your favourite?
Another page of delightful toys here, featuring Care Bears, Fluppys and Popples.
And we end our retro Argos Catalogue viewing with a page full of absolute gems, including the Bluebird Sweet Shop and the brilliant Tomy Turnin’ Turbo Dashboard.
