Best Buy Layaway
Some locations of Best Buy, the electronics retailer, offer layaway. For example, the Best Buy in Macon, Georgia, has a layaway policy, as do some locations in Michigan as well as in Austin, Texas and Chicago, Illinois. The terms are 90 days with payments every two weeks. Buyers put 20 percent down.
In December 2008, a Best Buy “Community Connector” posted on a Best Buy corporation message board that stores in Michigan are among the pilot program. “I guess we will see how it works out, and hope it is rolled out to the entire company!” she wrote.
Interestingly, a few days earlier, the same employee had posted: “At this present time, we do not have any layaway programs rolled out formally in our stores. As a company that is constantly evolving, it may eventually be something that we do offer; however not at this time. The one foreseeable concern I have would be an issue with how rapidly technology advances. A computer that is top of the line today, may be out of date in just a few months.”
Clearly, layaway is a concept that retailers are still not on the same page about, even within their own company. To see if your local Best Buy offers layaway, visit the corporate Web site and search for your store by ZIP code.