Nov 8, 2008

Layaway making a comebackBy Jackie CrosbyStarTribune.com

Minnesota — Ella Stewart’s shopping cart overflowed with toys and games as she wheeled it and her animated 1-year-old daughter, Allonnah, to the Kmart layaway desk last week.

Stewart usually shops at the Wal-Mart store near her home in north Minneapolis, but said she trekked across town to the Lake Street Kmart in south Minneapolis because Wal-Mart no longer offers the service.

“Layaway helps me budget better,” she said, unloading a Dora the Explorer tricycle, Campout Adventure play set and some squeezable, talking dolls. “It makes it a lot easier to get the things I want to get my family for Christmas.”

With credit tight and consumers leery of taking on debt, some retailers are dusting off the once-popular pay-as-you-go option. Kmart has made layaway the centerpiece of a national ad campaign it launched a few weeks ago. Richfield-based Best Buy Co. Inc. is testing it at a handful of stores in the Midwest. Even Oprah is calling for a resurgence.

“Now that credit isn’t readily available, the consumer is saying, ‘I’d love to buy it but I don’t have the money,’ ” said Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst for market researcher NPD Group.

“So retailers are adding layaway to the equation. They’re saying, ‘I can tie you up as a consumer now, I can solve your savings problem and help you start your holiday shopping earlier, and I don’t have to worry about chasing you later.’ “

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