Sign of the times?

[Joe Handley]

I saw a new K-Mart commercial before going to work this morning and thought it was kinda interesting.

I woman tells her husband that she is going Christmas shopping and he makes some smart arse comment about the pumpkins bearly being carved. Next scene they show her pushing a stuffed to overflowing shopping car up to the K-Mart Lay-A-Way counter. The main push of the commercial was to put the hottest/latest stuff on layaway so you can give them as gifts and have them on hold now and not have to worry about paying for it here and now.

Now I'm only 32 years old, but I don't ever remember seeing a commercial that specifically advertises the use of Lay-A-Way. Are those out there that are either older or more observant than I that remember seeing these kinds of commercials in the past?

[Rick Schmidt]

Never seen a commercial about it but I think it is their way of sayin hey come to us we can work with you we have Layaway and the other guy don't. Since Walmart done away with Layaway 2 years ago it probably leaves K mart as one of the few big dogs with it so now they are going to use it to bring folks in

[Joe Handley]

Could be a little from of both, Dad was telling me today that where he grew up in Iowa back in the 40's and 50's, that's how anybody got much of anything.

[Marc @ MPC Motorsports]

Before credit cards became commonplace, layaway was a method of buying merchandise on time payments. Pay cash over 60-90 days with little or no fees added. Pay off the layaway and receive the goods. Credit cards made layaway obsolete.

[Rob Hall]

I vaguely remember my folks using layaway at Sears and Penneys when I was a kid in the mid '70s.

[lordairgtar]

This was common with the old school department stores, Macy's, Hudson's, Boston Store, Gimbel's and Schuster's.

[old-hermit]

If my recollection is correct "layaway" has been around since dirt. My grandparents were farmers.

They had credit with all the local stores. When their crop came in they would pay off the debt.

[bobss396]

Layaway is a good thing. I had a girlfriend who would diligently put down money on expensive things once a week until it was hers. This was in smaller stores, but I've seen it in other bigger ones. They would have a separate counter for layaway items only. The garment (it was usually for clothes from what I saw) went on a rack with a tag and the store had a file on what was paid on the item.

In this day of "bad credit" and generally everyone over extending their finances, I think it'll catch on. I charge very little and pay cash for almost everything. Now if only my LHS would do that for me. I should ask, one never knows.

Bob

[Joe Handley]

Mentioned seeing this commercial to my boss today and apparently she'd seen it too or had heard of it elseware and wants us to bring up that we also offer lay-a-way if somebody is on the fence.

[Semi Trailer Mechanic]

What's goin' on...

I think K-Mart's using that in their commercials as a sales ploy. W/ all the chaos in the financial world and credit becoming more harder to obtain I can easily see layaway making a big come back (considering several companies have done away w/ that over the years.) I'm 36 years and I can remember my folks using it back when I was a young kid. When Super Shops Performance stores were still around they too had layaway programs. When sales were going on I'd get about $2,000.00 worth of go fast parts ( Erson Mallery ect ect brands) for the Chevelle and put them on layaway. The sale would still be validated during the pay off period. When the Mr.Gasket/companies bought out the chain of Super Shops I ###### near cryed because Jeg's wouldn't do that.

[Art Anderson]

When I owned my hobby shop, every fall, going into Christmas, I had at least 200 layaways on shelves in the back room. It was, and still is, a great business builder for those retailers who still offer it, but it is both space and labor intensive, which is why a lot of stores phased out this feature.

It may sound harsh, but I always required a 20% deposit, non-refundable after 10 days (hey, if the buyer was gonna stiff me, I felt I deserved to not absorb the lost sale(s) that might have resulted from the item being laid back and then given up on). All layaways were due out by December 22 (unless specifically agreed on differently), in order that we not be standing around at 5pm, on the 24th, waiting and wondering.

Two or three times in the 10yrs I had The Modelmaker, a single mom, having laid back say, a train set, or some model kits because she had no credit cards, and a bit tight on money, came to me or called me on the 24th, with regrets that she couldn't pick it up in time for Christmas, no spare money for that last payment. Each one of these, my then-wife and I gift wrapped, and personally delivered that particular Christmas Eve, with a note saying that it would be OK if the customer came in after the holiday and settled up. Believe it or not, everyone of those did just that. And, the look on their faces, and that of their child were, and still are, priceless. And, in doing that, I went away feeling pretty danged good myself--I'd gone just a little bit out there to help a kid have a happy Christmas, and his mom as well. Such is the way with a mom & pop store, we could do a few things like that, without "giving away the store", something that Walmart truly can't do, and likely wouldn't if they could.

Oh, and down the road since then (I closed out Modelmaker Hobby Shop in August of 1984)? One of those youngsters, an 11yr old when this Santa's helper knocked on their door, with the train set his mom had laid away, but couldn't quite pay for on time? Well, I am the Godfather of every one of his 4 kids, and I really love seeing their faces when they spot me on the street. Good feelings do go beyond the moment, truthfully!

With the economic times as they are, I wonder if such won't be happening again, on occasion, this Christmas, somewhere across this great land. I, for one, hope so.

Art

[Modellpularn]

Art,

a very heartwarming story in these harsh times! BTW, you still got the HOT ROD SHOW t-shirt I gave you in '99, at the Western Nationals??

[Dave]

The LHS I go to has layaway..length of time depends on $$$$ They sell alot of high end RC items..I think you can go 120 days on them. It's nice option and something I think will be used alot for the near future.

[Bert]

I vaguely remember Woolworths advertising layaway, and a local chain in SLC called Grand Central advertising it. ###### I'm old.

[cruzn]

Kmart did away with their Lay-A-Way an few years ago. Now they are bringing it back..

I guess the economy is dictating that as well as the Wal-Mart Competition. which doesn't have Lay -a-way now.

[Art Anderson]

Art,

a very heartwarming story in these harsh times! BTW, you still got the HOT ROD SHOW t-shirt I gave you in '99, at the Western Nationals??

Yup, folded away in a drawer.

Art

[FloridaBoy]

First, down here in South Florida, the local stores and retail outlets always advertised to "come in and lay it away", and I can remember my girlfriend in '65 explained it to me how it was done. I was always terrified that if I laid something away and something happened that prevented me from buying it later, I wouldn't be able to show my face in that store again.

The other thing is that I was incredibly easy to purchase for on Christmas, holidays, and birthdays, all I really got a lot of joy out of was a model car, model train or something easy and cheap.

My first wife never used lay away because she was an incredible saver, and she always believed to only purchase something when and if you had the money. I always thought that was the way.

Then ny second wife used lay away very cautiously for special hard to get toys and games for the kids, but again, I was terrified to leave the merchandise in the store. What if someone claimed the same toy in lay away and left a broken one for me?

Last, I probably couldn't remember where I would have left stuff if I used the service anyway.

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman