A Millennium Falcon for £12.95, teasmaids and stereograms... a look through the Argos catalogues of yesteryear

Items from an Argos catalogue in the 1980s.

Last year online retail accounted for almost a quarter (23.4 per cent) of all Christmas sales and a turnover of £17.4bn, a massive 20 per cent increase on like-for-like sales from 2013, and industry experts expect that trend to continue.

Millions of people will spend the next few weeks trawling the internet for bargains that are spread far and wide across the world wide web, including the websites of multi-channel retailers such as Argos, John Lewis and Tesco.

Before the dawn of the digital era, the equivalent of surfing was sifting through the pages of the Argos catalogue - and the even more hefty tomes from their mail order rivals Grattan, Empire Stores and Littlewoods.

Old copies of the catalogues offer a telling social commentary of shopping trends over the last four decades and provide a fascinating insight into fashions and fads.

Vintage website Retromash (retromash.com/argos) have digitised a massive collection of old Argos catalogues, including one from the company’s inaugural year, 1973, featuring steroegrams with autochangers that can play up to seven vinyl records, ‘bedsit kitsch’ tableware sets, a selection of 30 different cigarette lighters and an Automasseur electrical massage machine, yours for just £13.95.

By 1975, the Argos catalogue had gone high tec with legendary Goblin teasmaids (from £23.95), Moulinex can openers (£7.50), Ronson electric toothbrushes ( £5.95) and Bontempi electric organs with two octaves and 29 keys for only £19.95.

The catalogues also highlight the diminishing cost of technology down the years: in 1985 a Sharp microwave with turntable can be had for £234.95 whilst a comparative model is currently on sale for less than £60.

Argos vintage catalogues. An early microwave was among the more expensive items.

In 1980, a 14-inch Pye portable colour television - the biggest screen size available - cost £225, a full £135 more than Argos are currently selling a 19-inch TV (the smallest size available).

For many adults of a certain age, especially at this time of year, the Argos catalogue means one thing: drawing up a wish list for Christmas.

The first Argos catalogue featured just 10 pages of toys; by 1995, children’s gifts took up 116 of the 500-page autumn-winter edition. And where the 1970s edition was dominated by generic gifts such as Chad Valley soft toys, Wembley spacehoppers and Tonka trucks, by the 1980s Argos was the place many parents went to purchase the hugely popular TV and movie tie-in merchandise.

This included the Star Wars Millennium Falcon (£12.95 in 1985), Sylvanian Familes (£7.95 in 1990) and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers sets (£4.90 in 1990).

If only children’s Christmas presents were the same price in 2015….

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