Retro-Gadget: 1985 Argos Catalog Scanned

How did the world look back in 1985? While Marty McFly was trying to get Back to the FutureI was probably longing after the kinds of gadgets found in the Argos catalogue, a UK store which sells pretty much everything – including gadgets.

And now you, too, can take a look at the state of consumer tech art from 26 years ago, thanks to an epic project by Anthony Voz. Voz took the 1985 edition of the Argos catalog, scanned every page and posted the results to Flickr. Among the lawn chairs and leather goods are the gizmos of yesteryear.

Argos – still going today – is a weird kind of store. The small showroom uses paper catalogs. You browse, write down the number of the items you like and hand the slip to a cashier. You pay, and they give you a number. Then, somewhere in the bowels of the building, somebody grabs your item and sends it up to the showroom, where it is delivered to you at an in-store counter.

The magic of this setup is that a small, city-center store can carry a huge range of goods. And back in 1985, these goods were Commodore 64s, electric typewriters and cheap-o Sony Walkman knock-offs.

If you were a kid during the 80s, you’re going to waste an afternoon looking at the nostalgia-fest. And if you’re younger, take a look at what we used to spend out money on before iPods and cellphones. Amazing.

Vintage British Argos 1985 Catalogue [Anthony Voz / Flickr via Retro Thing]

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