Retail and Printing: From the Argos Catalogue to the Carrier Bag

Q: Are branded shopping bags printed?

Yes, through the business stationery range, alongside stickers and flyers for retail use.

There was a time when one printed catalogue sat in more UK homes than almost any other book except the Bible. It's gone now, but the print that built retail, bags, signage, price tags, receipts, never really left; it just changed shape.

Europe's Most-Printed Publication

The Argos catalogue, launched in 1972, became genuinely enormous: at its peak it was reportedly Europe's most widely-printed publication, with only the Bible found in more UK homes. Print runs fell from around 10 million to 3 million copies per edition over its final decade as shopping moved online, and Argos finally scrapped the printed catalogue in 2020 after a 48-year run — a striking, single-company snapshot of how far retail print has shifted in one generation.

What Retail Print Actually Covers

The catalogue's decline tells only part of the story. Retail still runs on a wide range of printed material: shopping bags, price tags, signage and point-of-sale displays, window graphics, flyers and coupons, receipts. Some of this has genuinely gone digital — e-receipts, app-based loyalty — but packaging, bags and in-store signage remain essential, precisely because they're physical, branded objects a customer actually carries out of the shop.

Why Bags and Signage Have Survived

A branded carrier bag does something a digital receipt never can: it walks down the street advertising you, for free, carried by someone who chose to buy from you. That's the same basic logic that's kept in-store signage and window displays valuable even as advertising spend has moved overwhelmingly online.

Where This Shows Up in What We Print

We print branded paper bags, signage and point-of-sale display material for independent shops and retailers — see our business stationery & publications range for bags, stickers and flyers, and large format & signage for shopfront and window display material.

Frequently asked questions

How significant was the Argos catalogue?

At its peak it was reportedly Europe's most widely-printed publication, found in more UK homes than any book except the Bible, before being discontinued in 2020 after 48 years.

What retail print is still in demand?

Branded shopping bags, in-store signage, point-of-sale displays and window graphics remain in steady demand, even as catalogues and some marketing print have moved online.

Do you print branded shopping bags?

Yes — through our business stationery range, alongside stickers and flyers for retail use.

The shop window as theatre

Harry Gordon Selfridge opened his Oxford Street store on 15 March 1909, and he is recorded as comparing shopping to going to the theatre. On opening day he covered the show windows with silk curtains and revealed the displays dramatically. More than a century later the windows are still part of the store's identity. The idea behind that stunt is the same one a corner shop uses with a sandwich board: the glass is your first sales conversation, and passers-by form a view of you before they have seen a single price.

Taking the assistant out of the aisle

Self-service changed what print had to do inside a shop. Clarence Saunders opened the first Piggly Wiggly at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee, on 6 September 1916. Customers took a basket and followed a set route past the shelves, with turnstiles at the entrance and checkouts at the front. Once there was no clerk to ask, the packet, the shelf-edge label and the sign above the aisle all had to do the explaining.

Britain's version has a messier history than the legend suggests. A researcher who examined the records found that the often-quoted story of a supermarket in Manor Park, east London, in 1948 is wrong. The London Co-operative Society's Manor Park store opened in autumn 1951. The branch that opened on 12 January 1948 was in Green Street, Upton Park, and it was the first new London Co-op branch run entirely on self-service, though very small, with a single checkout. The same research suggests the first self-service shop in Britain was probably a David Greig branch in Turnpike Lane in 1923. It is a good reminder to check a retail "first" before you print it on anything.

The bag that became a policy

The carrier bag shows how quickly rules can reshape a printed product. The government's charge on single-use plastic carrier bags began in England in 2015 for large retailers, and from 21 May 2021 the charge was raised and extended to all businesses in England. Official figures put the fall in plastic bag sales at major supermarkets at 95 per cent since 2015, with the average household going from about 140 single-use bags a year to four. The government expected a 70 to 80 per cent reduction among small and medium-sized businesses.

For shops, the shift pushed attention towards reusable cotton and paper alternatives, and towards tote bags that customers choose to keep. A bag that someone is willing to carry for years does a job that a flimsy one never could. We print tote bags with DTF, and a design that suits a bag also tends to suit a T-shirt, which helps a shop build one consistent look.

What the person behind the counter wears

Most shops are recognised through the people serving in them. Uniform is a retail tradition, yet it need not mean a jacket and tie. Modern independent shops often use:

A printed polo for a neat, readable front-of-house look.
A T-shirt with a small chest logo and a larger back print that shows when staff are stacking shelves.
A hoodie for cold stockrooms, market stalls and winter pop-ups.
A name line under the logo, so customers can ask for someone by name.

Give the same attention to colours as you would to a shopfront. The garment shade should work with the shop's palette, and a bright logo on dark clothing needs a proof so you can judge how it will look under shop lighting.

Planning a seasonal change-over

Retailers work in cycles, and the print list changes with them. A practical sequence for a small shop:

1. Settle the theme before anything is designed. Sale, launch, season or event.

2. List every surface: window, door, counter, shelf, bag, team clothing.

3. Choose one image and one line of text and repeat them across all surfaces so they read as one campaign.

4. Ask for proofs and check the spelling of every name, date and web address.

5. Allow for the busy periods. Retail deadlines such as the run-up to Christmas are exactly when everything is requested at once. State your date when you ask for a quote and order early.

Window and shopfront graphics worth considering

Our large-format work includes posters, banners, flags and display stands, which suit a shop's seasonal needs better than a full re-fit. A banner above the door states a promotion, a poster inside the glass promotes a single product, and a display stand covers the area near the till. The flags, banners and display stands guide explains the differences and what artwork each needs. For shop teams, our custom clothing printing page lists what we print on.

Some honest limits

Printing cannot make a window attractive if the stock behind it is disorganised, and a polished bag will not rescue poor service. Printed material works best when it supports a shop that already knows what it sells and to whom. Use it to make good habits visible, rather than as a substitute for them.

Who opened the first self-service grocery store in the United States?

Clarence Saunders opened the first Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, Tennessee on 6 September 1916.

Was Manor Park Britain's first supermarket?

No. That story is a myth. The Manor Park store opened in autumn 1951, and an earlier Co-op branch in Upton Park began self-service on 12 January 1948. Researchers think a David Greig branch in 1923 was probably the first self-service shop.