Christmas in installments - layaway makes a comeback

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/168670

Christmas in Installments
Ahead of the holidays, layaway is making a comeback among major retailers.


By Alex Johnson | MSNBC
Nov 12, 2008 | Updated: 2:24 p.m. ET Nov 12, 2008


Hot Shoppes. Green Stamps. Rexall. Layaway.

Ask your grandparents.

Wait a minute ... did we say layaway?

Scratch that — of all the relics of 1950s retailing genius, it's the one that's still around. And with Christmas approaching in a time of widespread economic distress, it's coming back strong.

"For a lot of people, they're not going to have credit and they don't have a lot of money right now, but they want to have a good Christmas," said Mary Bullock, manager of a Kmart store in Orlando, Fla. "It is a lot different than in years past."

Until recently, Kmart Corp. was pretty much the only major retailer that bothered to keep layaway plans prominent among their customer services. The service — in which a customer pays off the purchase price of a product in installments plus a small fee before taking it home — appeared headed for obsolescence two years ago when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. shut down its program.

But this Christmas season, other national retailers have joined Kmart in advertising their layaway options, among them TJ Maxx Corp., Goody's Family Clothing Inc., Marshalls Inc. and Burlington Coat Factory Direct Corp., along with numerous regional chains and local stores.

The revival of layaway is too recent to allow for any broad statistical assessment of its popularity, but Burlington Coat Factory said its layaway sales made up 5.3 percent of its business in August, a 15 percent increase over the same month last year, and were continuing to rise. And other retailers offer plenty of anecdotal evidence.

[amdezurik]

1. um, dude, why would I give you money when chaces

are all too good you'll be in chapter 11 by X-mas? Same with gift cards, no way I am giving these companies free money.