Freemans is to stop printing its catalogue after 118 years — bringing the era of big mail order retailers to a close.
At its peak in the 1970s and 1980s the catalogue ran to more than 1,000 pages and thudded on to the doormats of more than two million homes twice a year.
Freemans said that it was focusing on its website, which it says has grown in customers by a third since last year. The decision means the giant mail order catalogues that became hugely popular after the Second World War will no longer be printed by any retailer.
Ann Steer, chief executive, said: “The Freemans catalogue was a national institution. However, we need to move with the times, in response to how customers