Layaway is the old, 'New'

I remember as a child going to the department store and watching my parents load up the shopping cart. My eyes would filled with excitement from all the merchandise. After endless hours of shopping we would stand in line.

I noticed my mother placing all the merchandise onto the counter, watching each item strategically place inside a box. She then would exchange a small, manageable dollar amount in exchange for a receipt.

Over the next few weeks we would visit the store only to make payments toward the merchandise.

During this economic time families are trying to figure out how to celebrate holidays, milestones and events without severely decreasing their disposable income and tapping their credit cards.

While you're trying to decide what to purchase for the holidays and how you're going to afford it. I encourage you to look into layaway. It was good enough for our parents and grandparents, it should be good enough for us.

Our parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles took advantage of the luxury decades ago. It was an act of convenience and a way to save and not charge enormous debt onto a credit card.

Eventually, department stores discontinued layaway and used the excuse of losing money due to returned items and lack of payments toward layaway.

Today, it's a different outlook on the system. Stores such as Kmart, Burlington Coat Factory, Sears, Marshall's, T.J. Max and select Best Buys have had a change of heart.

The stores have realized that in order to notice an increase in sales and production something is going to have to change. The change is...layaway.


Be inspired,
Bahiyah Shabazz
The Solutions Coach