In the few moments of free time I have lately I've been trying to keep up with my television shows that I neglected during the homework rush of the beginning of the school year. While in the midst of my television watching I saw a rather shocking advertisement for K-mart. The woman says, "I'm going Christmas shopping." To which her husband responds, "Didn't we just carve pumpkins?" Then comes the most shocking part....she says, "I'm going to K-Mart they have layaway." Layaway really? As a young shopper I think of layaway as something from the 1950s.
Thinking that this was a strange concept I went in search for a news article and found one from MSNBC.com. It stated that more and more stores are reverting back to this somewhat old practice due to the bad economy and poor credit these days. The article also stated, however, that layaway had almost become obsolete two years ago when even Wal-mart shut down its layaway program.
As the holiday season approaches though a lot of stores have gotten on the band wagon. Stores in which you can now utilize this program are: K-mart, TJ Maxx, Goody's Family Clothing Inc., Marshalls Inc., and Burlington Coat Factory Direct Corp., along with a few other regional chains and stores. According to Burlington Coat Factory the revival of the layaway trend made up 5.3% of its business in August which was a 15% increase in the same month a year ago.
The system seems to be working for both retailers and consumers. Especially considering consumers are really worried about the economy at this point and layaway is just one more helpful tool to watch their spending this holiday season.
3 comments:
I personally think it is great, for some people, that layaway is back. Everyone wants to look forward to happy holidays, with numerous gifts, and now people have a better chance of providing that. I don't think that I would ever utilize this concept, but I can total understand the people that would- people who have families and kids, on top of all of their bills and payments. I hope it gives more people the opportunity to have less stressful, but more fun-filled and happy holidays. Are any chains or stores (besides discount ones) going to bring this back?!
Whoa blast from the past! I remember always wondering what exactly layaway was when I was little; I always thought you were like getting it free or cheaper somehow lol. It's a good concept for poor economic times though, I would think many people would be interested in doing it, especially around the holiday season.
I most likely will be utilizing layaway as much as i can this holiday season since I'm a poor college student who still wants to give gifts like i always do even when times are tough. So i love that this old system has had a rebirth during this time of financial crisis since i'm not the only one feeling the financial pinch during the holidays. Never before had I really understood what it was all about but now that I'm looking for retailers that offer it, i know all too well. Hopefully it will allow me to be less stressed out about money than previous years because I will be able to pay thing off gradually.
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