Argos general merchandise

Argos is a leading British catalog retailer originally founded in 1973 by Richard Tompkins. It revolutionized high-street shopping by replacing traditional shelf-browsing with a catalog-based model where customers select products from a book. Over the decades, the brand became a household name in the United Kingdom and Ireland for consumer electronics, toys, and home furnishings. In 2016, Argos was acquired by J Sainsbury plc for £1.4 billion, leading to the integration of Argos outlets into Sainsbury's supermarkets as part of a multi-channel retail strategy.

While Argos operates as a retailer rather than a manufacturer of a single product, its extensive range of own-brand goods—including electronics and household items under labels like Bush and Habitat—is manufactured across multiple countries, with a significant portion of production occurring in China and other global manufacturing hubs. As of 2026, Sainsbury's remains the ultimate owner, although the company has explored potential sales of the brand to international entities like JD.com to focus more heavily on its core food business.