system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How did Argos UK shopping center become so popular/famous?

Many British comedians make fun of buying stuff in Argos. If they're ridiculing this place, why is it still so huge? As far as I can work out, its like buying stuff online....but in an offline way. Is it?
gpt
In the days before the Internet, Argos revolutionised shopping.

Before Argos, if you wanted something, you had to go to the shops and browse the shelves until you found what you wanted.

With Argos, you kept a catalogue at home (literally everyone had a catalogue). You looked through the catalogue to find what you wanted. Then it took nothing more than a quick trip to the shop where you gave them your item numbers which you got from the catalogue, and your goods arrived within a few minutes.

And you could buy everything at Argos. Toys, electronics, furniture, jewellery and lots, lots more. All in one shop, where you didn't even need to find your way around the shop to find what you wanted.

Now, of course, every shop allows you to do that with online catalogues. But Argos's business model translated very well to online shopping. No one keeps a catalogue at home because you can browse online. And you can arrange delivery just like every other shop, but you can also collect immediately from their high street shops. The brand was established long before the Internet existed, and because it transitioned to online shopping so well it is still a strong brand.

As for making fun of it, a lot of stuff they sell (toys, electronics, etc) are branded goods which are no different to any other store. But some of their own stuff like flat-packed furniture can be, well, a little poor on the quality side of things. Not so poor that it's unusable, but certainly cheap-and-cheerful.