I have seen the future, and it is "Argos"

I'm quite disappointed with the U.S. of A. today. Not because of our crap president, our weak dollar, or even our Hallmark holidays. It's something far worse. We've let another country out consume us.

I found my way into Argos yesterday on the way home from work. It's OK - I had never head of Argos either. Until now, I've embraced a life with intermittent trips to New Jersey to experience Costco, Ikea, and Target, never knowing that the holy grail of "all you can buy" shopping was actually across the pond.

Here's the way it works: You enter the Argos store, go to one of their many "selection stations", and peruse the catalog. And this ain't no Sunday circular. This is somewhere around 1 million laminated pages of excess. Yep. It's that good. You pick out what you want, write down the product number, and then pay for it at the counter. Within 5 minutes or so someone has walked out of the back room with your goods. It's that easy. And if we're considering British Pounds without the conversion, it's also relatively cheap.

Yesterday I went in with the intention of buying an Aero bed, but came out with both the air mattress and an all in one down duvet/mattress cover/pillow (and something else I think, though I haven't opened it yet) set. I found myself there again today in search of a Brita filter. Check. Anyone who has ever lived in a city knows how annoying it is to not be able to find simple household goods. With Argos, you don't leave the city to hit the big box store - the store comes to you. Or whatever it is in that back room (Elves? East Asian children? Who knows).

In this time of overt Olympic patriotism (the berets? Again?!), it's tough to admit that the British are ahead on this one. Maybe we've got hope, though. With our inability to save money, it's inevitable that an Argos store will open stateside sometime soon.