> As a kid in the UK, Argos catalogues were magical.

In Canada it was Consumers Distributing (also Eaton's, Sears):

* 1992 catalog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTXbe9Mw17Q

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumers_Distributing

* https://www.tvo.org/article/what-happened-to-consumers-distr...

You could buy something via mail or phone, but there were also shops: you would go there, fill out a form with tiny pencils (like an old school bank form), give it to the clerk, and they'd bring it to the cashier 'from the back'.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalog_merchant

I remember holiday catalogues the same. Then the internet came, and I assumed it would make the whole process of choosing a holiday that bit more magical

Instead we got really efficient price comparison and sometimes very useful but often gamed customer reviews...

"The laminated book of dreams!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggOa9aSG-Ow