Margo Hutchinson
JOUR 216 Adv. News writing & Reporting
Oct. 2008
LAYAWAY
A Layaway Christmas!
By: Margo Hutchinson
The credit crunch putting a little damper on your Christmas shopping?
With Macys stores throughout the sates putting up there Christmas trees in the chill fall of October, it reminds the American people that there is only 61 days left to do your Christmas shopping. But with the economy in such a poor state, how will parents fulfill the Christmas wish list of their children? Consider the Layaway!
Layaway, popular during the Great Depression in the 1920s, is being resurrected to help the Christmas shoppers in 2008. A Layaways is when a customer wants a particular item but is unable to pay for it in full at the time so they have the store hold it for them until they are finished paying for the item.
To put a gift in layaway you must pay a five-dollar fee upfront and to cancel the layaway will cost from 10 to 15 dollars. The payment plans allows customers to pay every two weeks, and once the item is fully paid off the customer is allowed to take the purchase home.
Stores such as TJ Maxx and Burlington offer the option of layaway and Kmart has offered this option to their customer for years and with the economy on the rocks, Kmart is now advertising it their plan more this year. You also have the option to layaway item online. Kmart’s website tells you step by step on how to put something on hold. Kmart’s layaway payment is over an 8 week period and if you miss a payment for 7 days, you item will be put back on the sales floor for another customer to buy and you are refunded you money minus the activation fee.
Though it seems that only a few stores are offering the Layaway option, retail expert Neil Stern told Dorothy Tucker of the CBS2Chicago news that, “given this season we may see more and more retailers, big and small, pick it up." So it seems like if you chose to shop the layaway way Christmas shopping starts now!
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