The retailer has been around for 50 years but struggled to compete with newer rivals such as Amazon. Can its new owners turn it around?

The chain has been a fixture of the British High Street for more than 50 years and is still used by around half of all UK households. But it has struggled to thrive in recent years amid fierce competition from online giants like Amazon, with sales stagnating. Its owner Sainsbury's recently announced it was selling the chain for a lot less than it paid for it just 10 years ago. But the new owners say they see "real opportunities" for growth, including opening new standalone shops. Can they succeed where Sainsbury's did not? When the BBC spoke to shoppers in central London this week, the retailer seemed to divide opinion. Some, like Enrico, 28, said they loved the convenience of same-day collection, and felt nostalgic towards a brand which unlocked fond childhood memories. "It was a great way of doing your Christmas shopping," he told the BBC. "We'd go into our local Argos and we'd get the massive print catalogue." Argos's encyclopedia-like catalogue was once dubbed "the laminated book of dreams", but the company stopped printing it in 2021.