Argos Limited, trading as Argos, is a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, acquired by Sainsbury's supermarket chain in 2016. It was established in November 1972 and is named after the Greek city of Argos. The company trades both through physical shops and online, with 29 million yearly shop customers, and nearly a billion online visitors per annum.[2] It has also franchised overseas to countries such as China The company was founded by Richard Tompkins who had previously established Green Shield Stamps in the United Kingdom. He came up with the idea that people could purchase goods from his "Green Shield Gift House" with cash rather than savings stamps. He rebranded the original Green Shield Stamps catalogue shops as Argos beginning in July 1973 In April 2016, Argos' parent Home Retail Group agreed to a £1.4 billion takeover by Sainsbury's On 5 November 2020, Sainsbury's announced that it would close 420 Argos standalone outlets by March 2024, leaving about 100; with other measures 3, 500 Sainsbury's jobs were to be cut and £600m saved. 120 standalone Argos stores permanently closed and moved into the nearest Sainsbury's store. The measures were reported to be due to changing consumer habits and the growth of online shopping.[12] On 19 January 2023, it was announced that Argos would cease its operations in Ireland, including both its online business and its and physical shops, by 24 June 2023
