With the holidays coming up, retailers are bringing out their popular layaway programs. Shoppers planning ahead can make their purchases now but pick them up and pay later. Typically, there’s a fee for layaway, and shoppers pay off their purchases over time.
But not this year with Toys ‘R’ Us. The retailer earlier announced that it would make its layaway program free for a limited time in 2012, reports CNBC. The program was announced in September and initially was going to end Oct. 31. But so many shoppers took advantage of it, that the toy seller has extended the program until Dec. 16.
That’s not all Toys ‘R’ Us announced. Piggybacking on the recent occurrence of “layaway Santas” — the anonymous givers who pay off strangers’ layaway purchases — Toys ‘R’ Us will now donate $200 worth of toys to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation anytime a layaway Santa pays off a layaway tab at one of its stores. The donations will continue until they reach $1 million.
It’s yet to be seen whether other stores with layaway programs such as Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) and K-Mart (NASDAQ:SHLD) will match the Toys ‘R’ Us move and extend their own layaway programs.
