Argos opens first London Undergound store at Cannon Street

Argos, the retail chain owned by Home Retail Group, has opened the first in a series of click-and-collect stores in London Underground stations, with commuters able to order from their smartphones elsewhere on the tube network and collect items from the Cannon Street outlet on the same day.

The store is part of Argos' digital store trials, where the company said it expected to have nearly 50 converted traditional Argos stores, small format digital stores, and concessions in select Homebase stores in place for Christmas.

Although the Cannon Street outlet is only the size of a family kitchen, the company said it provided a cost-effective means of serving customers, with Argos' innovative new "hub and spoke" distribution network able to provide over 20,000 products to any store within a few hours.

Home Retail chief executive John Walden said the opening was in response to customer demand for "convenience and speed in the fulfilment of their online orders, especially via click and collect".

"Argos has been a click and collect leader, and we continue to innovate our offer with our new digital stores. They represent what we believe will be the role of the Argos store in an emerging digital future – modern and energetic, with larger ranges available within hours, tablets for easy browsing and ordering, streamlined in-store customer journeys including 60-second Fast Track collection of online purchases, and a friendly human face to provide personalised customer service."

He added: "Because of our innovative new ‘hub and spoke’ distribution network, we can now provide over 20,000 products to any of our locations within hours, regardless of the stocking capacity of each individual store.

"The combination of ‘hub and spoke’ with our multiple digital store formats will provide Argos with cost-effective options to potentially serve many more customers through many new locations in the future.”

Transport for London said the partnership with Argos was part of its wider £3.4bn plans to develop the commercial estate in its stations and generate revenue that can be reinvested back into the transport network over the next 10 years.

The new Cannon Street store covers 650 square feet in total, with a sales floor of 170 square feet, and will be open from 07.30 to 19.00 Monday to Friday and 09.00 to 18.00 on Saturdays.