Notmuchlonger
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I did a double take. They were advertising their layaway program. Wow sign of the times.
K Mart commercial the other day
- Thread starter Notmuchlonger
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Khan
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Is this a reinstatement? I thought layaway had been done away with.
(I recall my mother using it in the '60s.)
Sarah in SC
Moderator Emeritus
I think they quit doing it a few years ago. Must have felt the need to bring it back since folks (hopefully) are using less credit.
Article: Stores Drag layaway out of storage
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/10/19/2008-10-19_stores_drag_layaway_out_of_storage.html
Layaway is making a comeback - and at least one bargain superstore is betting that debt-saddled consumers are ready to push their shopping carts down memory lane.
In a new ad campaign, Kmart touts layaway for shoppers who want to get a jump-start on an affordable Christmas.
"Remember layaway?" Oprah Winfrey recently asked on her talk show. "That is where we are heading."
The old-fashioned purchase plan, which had its heyday in the '20s and '30s but dwindled in the days of easy credit, lets shoppers who can't afford full price at checkout pay as they go. But instead of putting that toy or new coat on plastic and bringing it home, buyers leave items on hold at the store until they're all paid up.
Article: Stores Drag layaway out of storage
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/10/19/2008-10-19_stores_drag_layaway_out_of_storage.html
Layaway is making a comeback - and at least one bargain superstore is betting that debt-saddled consumers are ready to push their shopping carts down memory lane.
In a new ad campaign, Kmart touts layaway for shoppers who want to get a jump-start on an affordable Christmas.
"Remember layaway?" Oprah Winfrey recently asked on her talk show. "That is where we are heading."
The old-fashioned purchase plan, which had its heyday in the '20s and '30s but dwindled in the days of easy credit, lets shoppers who can't afford full price at checkout pay as they go. But instead of putting that toy or new coat on plastic and bringing it home, buyers leave items on hold at the store until they're all paid up.
bbbamI
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Yeah, back in the 80's when I worked at Penney's we had a lay-a-way program....people would pay $5 at a time. 
Eh, at least no finance charges.
Eh, at least no finance charges.
bssc
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I saw this too. My thought was it was aimed at people whose CCs were maxed out.
bright eyed
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At least they have to pay for it before they bring it home!
happy2bretired
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I used to use lay-a-way to buy my winter coats. Sales in August...pay until cold weather. Boy, that was a long time ago. I didn't have any credit cards and a winter coat, at that time, was a major purchase for me. Boy...long time ago. I guess I'm having a getting old moment.
Notmuchlonger
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Maybe its a good sign. People will actually pay the price on the tag and not the credit card tax of later payments
TromboneAl
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Paris Hilton has been getting things on the layaway plan all along.
Did it really have to take 10 posts before someone made this joke?
Did it really have to take 10 posts before someone made this joke?
Goonie
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I had a friend that used K-Mart's lay-away program for Christmas shopping (at least until they closed our local store a couple of years ago). She'd find things on her list and take them to the lay-away department, that way it was there even if the item(s) sold out in the store before she could afford to pay cash for them. Each week when she got her paycheck, she'd stop in at K-Mart and put some more cash down on her lay-aways. By the week before Christmas she had everything all paid for in full...in cash...and she didn't have to do anything but wrap it all. No last minute searches for things that the kids wanted or needed, but were now hard to find....she found them months before and tucked 'em away (interest free) in the lay-away department.
dex
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But didn't she miss the Xmas sale price?
Goonie
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They actually would give her (or anyone else) the sale price if she (they) saw it and pointed it out to them. I went with her a couple of times and she'd walk around and look at things she'd already hoarded, and check to see if it had been marked down. If it had, she's march back to the lay-away dept. and show them, and they'd promptly make the change on her items.
We had some wonderful people working at our K-Mart! They were usually very pleasant and user friendly....unlike the turkeys they have at our local Wally-World.
kyounge1956
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Didn't banks also used to have what they called a "Christmas Club", which I suppose was a special savings account to be used for presents in December? I seem to remember seeing or hearing that name (on TV commercials or in the newspaper??) when I was in grade school or so.
Goonie
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I don't know about other areas, but most, if not all, of the banks and credit unions around here still offer them. IIRC, you put in a set amount of money each week for 51 weeks, and the financial institution makes the 52nd payment for you. IOW, say you put in $25 per week for 51 weeks ($1275 total), the bank or CU will put in the last $25......basically giving you 1.96% simple interest.....which ain't great, but it's certainly better than nothing, and it IS great for folks that don't have oodles of money laying around, and those that are just barely making it by on their paychecks.
I remember when I was growing up, both my Mom and my Dad had 'Christmas Club' accounts at the CU.....they usually put in $10/week. That's what paid for all of our Christmas presents....and most of our Christmas dinner (the factory where Dad worked gave each employee a big ol' turkey every year for Christmas) when my sibling and I were little. Anything left over went to pay utilities.
What's next? Green stamps?
My mother got me a guitar and a telescope with green stamps.
My mother got me a guitar and a telescope with green stamps.
Sarah in SC
Moderator Emeritus
Hey, we still have greenbax stamps--if you shop at the Piggly Wiggly you get them. DH's mom still uses a Christmas Club account.
Goonie
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I remember going to the Green Stamp store, as well as the Plaid Stamp store with my Granny when I was a kid. I even collected my own Green Stamps when I spent part of my allowance at the grocery store. I saved enough of 'em to fill enough books to get a really nice tackle-box....my own tackle-box! I still have that old box out in the garage.....darn near like new!
Granny used 'em to buy things they needed for their house....small kitchen appliances (toasters, mixers, etc.), bed sheets & blankets, and all sorts of that type of thing. In fact, all of my greataunts/uncles did the same.
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