Metropol

The Argos branches in Newcastle now do free same day home delivery, including slots up to 10pm at night. This has proven very handy for me a couple of times. Don't know if it's national or not, or what the cut off times are (I've ordered online as late as 4pm for an 8-10pm same day free home delivery slot, which seems pretty much indistinguishable from magic)

tillyoshea wrote:The Argos branches in Newcastle now do free same day home delivery, including slots up to 10pm at night. This has proven very handy for me a couple of times. Don't know if it's national or not, or what the cut off times are (I've ordered online as late as 4pm for an 8-10pm same day free home delivery slot, which seems pretty much indistinguishable from magic)

Not heard of that down here. It'd come in handy for when I need to buy another office chair which I had to lug on a bus home!

tillyoshea wrote:The Argos branches in Newcastle now do free same day home delivery, including slots up to 10pm at night. This has proven very handy for me a couple of times. Don't know if it's national or not, or what the cut off times are (I've ordered online as late as 4pm for an 8-10pm same day free home delivery slot, which seems pretty much indistinguishable from magic)

Not heard of that down here. It'd come in handy for when I need to buy another office chair which I had to lug on a bus home!

barcode wrote:My main Argos store is already one of those, no pens or books etc. If there was every a power cuts there be ......

A power cut wouldn't affect the tablets, they use a rechargeable battery like a mobile phone does. And a power cut would result in ANY shop closing, because the checkouts wouldn't be working and there'd be no lights.

I do like Argos for some stuff. It's often surprisingly good value, and the advantage is you can obviously just go and get it. It helps as my employer has recently been getting fed up of Amazon parcels arriving every day for staff.

However, I don't think Homebase is doing itself any favours here. The Habitat concessions broadly work because of them trying to position themselves in this 'Make a House a Home' bracket, but I still think most people would view Homebase as a DIY store, so perhaps they shouldn't be trying to reinvent themselves too much?

Indeed, I was in a Homebase at the weekend, and whilst I've no issue with the Habitat (though no-one was browsing in it at the time), right next to it - and for about six or so aisles - was all sorts of Homebase own-brand homewares. They had a full aisle of Homebase branded bed linen, sheets and pillowcases, half an aisle of duvets and then all sorts of cushions, kettles, small electricals and even toast racks. Who's going to Homebase for their bedding?!

I was there to buy a tin of white gloss paint and a mini paint roller. I bought the second last tin of paint, and had to end up buying a complete roller set as they were out of stock of single rollers, and spare roller heads. Paint brushes etc had store space of half of one aisle.

At the till, the staff were disinterested and I only realised when I looked at my receipt later that I could've used my Nectar card. No signage, and wasn't asked at the till. I can't help but think things aren't going to get any better for Homebase soon.

JAS84 wrote:

barcode wrote:My main Argos store is already one of those, no pens or books etc. If there was every a power cuts there be ......

A power cut wouldn't affect the tablets, they use a rechargeable battery like a mobile phone does. And a power cut would result in ANY shop closing, because the checkouts wouldn't be working and there'd be no lights.

The wifi would be down making them pretty useless.

gottago wrote:

JAS84 wrote:

barcode wrote:My main Argos store is already one of those, no pens or books etc. If there was every a power cuts there be ......

A power cut wouldn't affect the tablets, they use a rechargeable battery like a mobile phone does. And a power cut would result in ANY shop closing, because the checkouts wouldn't be working and there'd be no lights.

The wifi would be down making them pretty useless.

Moot point. Like I said, so would the checkouts.

some places can still override the till and do thing even with out power. Thats by n by.

barcode wrote:some places can still override the till and do thing even with out power. Thats by n by.

Forgetting the health and safety issue of no lights though. Emergency lighting won't be sufficient to keep a shop open.

scottishtv wrote:Indeed, I was in a Homebase at the weekend, and whilst I've no issue with the Habitat (though no-one was browsing in it at the time), right next to it - and for about six or so aisles - was all sorts of Homebase own-brand homewares. They had a full aisle of Homebase branded bed linen, sheets and pillowcases, half an aisle of duvets and then all sorts of cushions, kettles, small electricals and even toast racks. Who's going to Homebase for their bedding?!

That's not new. When I stopped working at Homebase in 2003, they stocked all of that - and presented me with some hideous cutlery as a leaving present, whose plastic handles became detached within months.

tillyoshea wrote:That's not new. When I stopped working at Homebase in 2003, they stocked all of that.

Oh, Huh. Well, shows how much attention I've been paying. Maybe it sells better than I thought it would. I knew they did cheap flat pack furniture for a while - it was terrible quality, even the in-store display models looked awful, with crooked edges and gaps where there shouldn't be any.