Sign of the Times?

[BBYGRL]

I heard an radio advertisement for KMART's "lay-away" this morning.  Lay-away? Wow that takes me back to the days of Zody's, Fedco and Newberry's. As kids me and my sisters used to eat popcorn while waiting in the car while my mom put our school clothes and Christmas items on lay-away. Credit cards weren't an option for us then.

[score_building]

wow, interesting- i thought most stores had done away w/ lay away long ago

[Anonymous]

Maybe sign of the times that they're *advertising* lay-away, but KMart has always kept it... I was a dirt-poor single Mom for a while, I know all about KMart lay-away Also there's one just a block or two from our new place (really out of place, but whatev!) and I've heard people there making pmts on their lay-away items.

I think most "high-end" stores got rid of the program. Probably would be GOOD for more stores to bring it back -- help to teach people a safer way to buy big-ticket items.

[tatiana]

Absolutely!  Over the last several years, I have purchased antique jewelry on layaway from a high-end estate jeweler.  Instead of snobbing out on their younger and less affluent customers, they upped their sales and expanded their customer pool by providing "the rest of us" with a credit-free alternative - yay layaway!

[BBYGRL]

I wouldn't have a problem with putting electronics or other high-end products on lay-away. It's better than paying interest on CCs or even worse - going to a rip-off rent-a-center.

Given our current economy, it seems the stores could benefit from it.

[score_building]

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@BBYGRL wrote:

I wouldn't have a problem with putting electronics or other high-end products on lay-away. It's better than paying interest on CCs or even worse - going to a rip-off rent-a-center.

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agreed

[demi]

I bought a dinning room set at Ashley in April...spur of the moment, they were pushing 100 off and delivery was going up, had the money...only problem was my house wasn't going to be done until end of July, didn't want the table until then.  I asked if they could put on Layaway, they said no, didn't have it...then checked to see if they could and they did it for me...my guess, especially if its a big ticket item, more places will figure out how to do it to keep from losing a sale.

Really like the table...its perfect.

Message Edited by demi on 10-16-2008 03:24 PM

[BBYGRL]

Good for you. I would not have thought to ask. Did they charge you a fee? My guilty pleasure is shopping at Z Gallerie. There are a couple of mirrors and a chair I would like to put on lay-away - that's if they had one. Until then...I'm on a spending freeze.

[Anonymous]

Ahhhh layaway..... I remember the day I realized there was no more layaway at Wal-Mart. I live in what would be considered the "Biggest City" among a whole bunch of tiny towns. We have the only walmart around for DAYS it seems.

So every summer all the good kids clothes disappear of the shelves before I get a chance to buy what I need.

My son was 4 at the time (6 now) and I noticed one night they had put out all the new summer wear. I loaded my cart and headed back to layaway to make my 10% down and then I was going to come back to get my goodies at the end of the month.

Well imagine my surprise when I get back to the old "layaway" and find the new "wal-mart business center" (basically a row of computers for people to fill out job and CC applications)

I was so sad.. I called my mom nearly in tears (also a single mom at the time and couldn't afford to buy my sons stuff any where else) She came down and put my stuff on her AMEX and let me pay her back at the end of the month.

In some ways I miss layaway especially since it's really dumb for lower income people to have to pay interest when they need to buy something when its available vs. when they will need it and no layaway makes a CC their only option.

But at the same time I'm glad there is no layaway because a lot of people where I live would go out and get all the good stuff .. put it on layaway and keep it there until it was on clearance - price comp the stuff and then pay it out. That's rough on everyone else because we actually tend to run out of the better stuff before it ever gets to clearance.