article_snippet: Gone are the catalogues, little jotter pads and blue pens that used to fill the stores.
article_snippet: Our High Street stores have changed beyond recognition in recent years — and for many older customers
article_snippet: The convenience of online shopping is the only way to go for some, but for those who still prefer to shop in person, the experience is becoming an increasingly stressful and confusing one.
article_snippet: Argos stores used to be known for Argos stores weighty catalogues (pictured),
article_snippet: little jotter pads and blue pens but instead Argos stores now have iPads, self-service counters and barely any customer-employee contact .
article_snippet: Even Marks & Spencer, which relies heavily on the pensioner pound, is focusing too heavily on in-store technology in the form of touch- screen ordering stations and self-service checkouts.
article_snippet: It’s why we’re seeing a rise in the independent, with shops offering old-fashioned customer service.
article_snippet: It isn’t just department stores that have become a mind-boggling minefield as anyone who has ever attempted to go into a High Street coffee chain and order a plain, white coffee or tea will know.
article_snippet: Self-service tills in supermarkets are fine — unless you are buying alcohol, single items of fruit or veg, want to use your own bags, require cash back or intend to pay with anything other than
article_snippet: — shoppers like to interact with humans and not machines when we visit stores.
article_snippet: So, forget ‘unexpected item in bagging area,’ isn’t it time that other retailers followed the example set by Morrisons and gave we a few more ‘unexpected humans on the shop floor’?
highlights_snippet: Stores like Argos have transformed Stores like Argos shops with space-age technology .
  
highlights_snippet: Face-to-face contact has been replaced with self-service checkouts .
  