Argos to close all Irish stores starting March

Atlantic Dawn · 19-01-2023 01:04PM

I'd noticed on almost everything they sold since Brexit that they had to add labels to them to include an Irish importers address, was likely becoming a pain with paperwork.

What will likely happen now is Amazon will open an exclusive Amazon.ie webstore for Irish customers that will be a complete ripoff of the .co.uk site and not allow shipments here from the .co.uk site.

Red Silurian · 19-01-2023 01:08PM

You'd think having access to the EU market and Brexit would have had their UK stores being given this news, very strange

road_high · 19-01-2023 01:11PM

You kind of forget they are there tbh. But they are handy if you need something a bit “odd”- like a few years ago I needed a projector and screen for work- only place that had them in stock. I’d imagine carrying they kind of inventory is very expensive these days.

Will leave a big hole in a lot of Irish high streets and shopping centres. Retail in Ireland seems to be in trouble, gone sort of stale with very little new to offer

road_high · 19-01-2023 01:12PM

Wonder will their Irish website continue?

cml387 · 19-01-2023 01:13PM

A relation by marriage works there, from talking to him at Christmas this will not come as a big surprise. Sainsbury taking over may have been the last straw.

I remember when they opened first, I was suprised to find a catalog on my doorstep one morning. Inside was an order form from Jordan Estates, a then-popular moneylender.

thomil · 19-01-2023 01:15PM

I'm honestly not surprised. beyond Brexit, Argos really went out of their way to make it easy for Amazon to grab their market share. The website is ancient, an absolute nightmare to navigate and not in any way suitable for mobile devices, whilst their in-store terminals are positively archaic. That's not a new development either, that stuff wasn't up to date by 2015, and hasn't gotten any better since. Abandoning the city centres in places like Cork, areas where significant walk-in customers without a car would have provided a steady stream of customers, probably didn't help either.

With the proper investment in an up-to-date website, in-store terminals that don't need a mental health break every time you move to another menu page and decent mobile app, Argos could have had a fighting chance. As it stands, they missed every trend in retail for the last decade, and are now paying the price for it.

lertsnim · 19-01-2023 01:15PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128759#Comment_120128759

Unlikely as we are able to buy from any Amazon site.

Cosmo Kramer · 19-01-2023 01:16PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128745#Comment_120128745

Bookies are booming so you'll be fine.

Akrasia · 19-01-2023 01:20PM

Argos not doing deliveries was always going to end badly for them

I mean, they had the people in the warehouse doing all the heavy lifting, why not slap a label on the box and get a courier to collect them instead of the consumer

19-01-2023 01:20PM

Yup, makes perfect business sense in light of Brexit.

When Argos came here, it took a long time before Argos Ireland offered the same range of goods as the rest of Europe.

Bought my first serious model railway of them on 2013

19-01-2023 01:21PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128699#Comment_120128699

Back when Ray D'arcy was on Today FM they did an piece where they summed up the whole Argos catalog.

No idea what the total came to.

19-01-2023 01:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128810#Comment_120128810

I don't know, but anytime I was looking for something on it over the past year it's been either out of stock or "Home delivery not available".

Akrasia · 19-01-2023 01:23PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128864#Comment_120128864

Ah now, you can't drop that into the chat and not give us the total

freshpopcorn · 19-01-2023 01:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128810#Comment_120128810

From my understanding at this time online and all stores closing.

Macy0161 · 19-01-2023 01:29PM

Got to think Brexit is a big factor, but having said that the last few things we've got, we selected home delivery anyway.

freshpopcorn · 19-01-2023 01:33PM

Sad for the staff.

Not overly suppisd tough. I think people have moved on from Argos and ditching the catalogue was a bad idea. For those who weren't very tech savy and those who were. I found their website poor when searching for items.

19-01-2023 01:36PM

I'm actually not surprised, though I feel very sorry for the staff.

In recent times, I only ever bought from Argos if I needed something that same day. The most recent thing I can think of was when I needed a replacement keyboard in a hurry, after a liquid spill.

I regularly priced items in Argos -v- Amazon, and in most cases, Amazon worked out cheaper. They also delivered to my door, for free (with Prime).

A lot less hassle than driving to the shop, paying for parking (now introduced in the Square, my local Argos) queuing up....

You either compete, or you lose, and Argos wasn't doing very much to move with the times and be competitive.

I hope the staff get a decent package.

road_high · 19-01-2023 01:36PM

They had quite a store footprint. That must have been very costly vs competition based in one warehouse

randd1 · 19-01-2023 01:37PM

A handy place to pick stuff up.

The problem I found with them was that they tended to be in the middle of towns. Now while that's not a bad thing in itself, it also meant anything buying anything slightly bulky would require you try and find and pay for parking first, and carry the stuff through town back to the car, which could be awkward enough if you were buying a new TV or something like that.

Their website was shocking too, it's slowness and frequent crashes were more an advertisement for Amazon than anything else.

I'd imagine Brexit played a role too, just too much hoops to jump through to do business over here.

A pity, but it was coming.

The Nal · 19-01-2023 01:38PM

Business model outdated by a decade. Fault of management. They had a huge customer base and never adapted or evolved. Website has been the same since the 00s.

Losers.

19-01-2023 01:40PM

Microsoft & now Argos.

Not a good week for Irish jobs

19-01-2023 01:40PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128875#Comment_120128875

I never heard the total, just knew that the show was doing it.

Found this about it here on boards

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2055170876/donegal-winner-of-argos-competiion

19-01-2023 01:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128957#Comment_120128957

As well as being located in the middle of towns, they rarely opened late either. Always closed at 6pm in the one closest to me, even at Christmas time.

19-01-2023 01:46PM

haven't used them in years. Probably missed a trick when they stopped the catalogues.

techman1 · 19-01-2023 01:46PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128671#Comment_120128671

Yea and also higher rents and extra irish government related bureaucracy apart from brexit like the "gender pay gap " return , highly unlikely that it would be an issue in retail anyway but just the extra work load involved in having to complete it.

Just makes NI even more attractive for shopping get your non MUP beer and argos stuff aswell while in Newry. As Borat would say "Great Success "

tobefrank321 · 19-01-2023 01:46PM

A bit sad about this to be honest. It does feel like the traditional walk-in shop is dying out. I think we all had fond memories of walking into Extravision on a weekend evening and seeing what titles they have. Same with Argos.

I don't agree its easier to order stuff online always. You can be a week or several weeks for it to arrive, and returns are not always straight forward.

You could drive to your local argos and buy several things at once and have them on the same day.

MarkR · 19-01-2023 01:52PM

Great store for bits and pieces needed quick. I don't think we'll see another bricks and mortar store with variety like that again. More amazon for me I suppose.

SuperBowserWorld · 19-01-2023 01:52PM

Think the UK Argos web site was much more modern. They never bothered with the Irish one. At least that's what I read on Reddit. 🥴

MrMusician18 · 19-01-2023 01:53PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120128972#Comment_120128972

Lol, how parochial!

DubDani · 19-01-2023 01:53PM

The writing was on the wall. Argos Ireland lost some 13 mil. Euro last year.

Even in the UK they have had to make a lot of changes as well to try to lower their cost base. Where possible they have moved Argos counters from independent premises into Sainsbury Supermarkets, like for example in Newry. Up until a few years ago Newry had two separate Argos shops, now there is only the counter in the local Sainsbury.

Argos to close all Irish stores starting March

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