AUBURN — Shopping with her two little girls Tuesday, Rachel McGrath of Sabattus picked up clothing and other items from a Kmart layaway clerk.

“I prefer to use layaway to the charge card,” McGrath said. There’s no high interest. “There’s a one-time fee of $5, that’s it. There are no other fees involved. It’s wonderful,” she said.

She makes a payment every two weeks. It’s easier than coming up with $160 all at once, she said. McGrath started turning to layaways in the last year for birthdays and Christmas shopping. She’s part of a national trend of more cash-strapped consumers in a tough economy turning to layaway.

On a typical day, the Auburn Kmart has about $36,000 worth of merchandise in its layaway storage room. This back-to-school shopping season, there was about $70,000 worth of merchandise, said Tony Barton, a manager at the store. The items are small piles compared to the mountain last Christmas, when Kmart outgrew its layaway space three times, Barton said.

“A lot of people are using layaway. They pay a little bit at a time.” Some customers started back-to-school shopping in June. “They’d come in and pay a little bit at a time,” she said.

When they need the backpacks, clothing and shoes “they know right where it is,” Barton said. More customers don’t want to charge, he said. “In this area laying away is a big thing.” Some of Kmart competitors discontinued laying away. “We never stopped it here,” Barton said.

Locally most other stores don’t take layaways. The exception is Sears in Lewiston. Sears and Kmart are owned by the same company.

Sears discontinued layaway in the 1980s when consumers preferred paying with credit. Sears brought back layaways last November based on customer feedback “and the positive response to our sisters retailer’s, Kmart,” said spokeswoman Maura Cheeks.

At Sears, customers can lay items away for 90 days, must make payments every two weeks, and are charged a $5 fee.

Sherie Daigle, who works at Lewiston’s Martel Elementary School, did her back-to-school shopping mostly online at L.L. Bean. That was easier, she said, “than dealing with the crowds.”

Daigle didn’t do any layaway shopping, but “I would think about it. It’s much better than using a credit card.” It’s a great option, she said, for parents who are maxed on credit cards or don’t have credit cards.

Compared to a year ago, more shoppers are interested in laying items away, said Jim McConnon, an economist with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

The lingering recession and tough job market is prompting more to shop with cash. As the Christmas shopping season approaches, more stores may try to lure spenders with competitive pricing and bringing back layaways, McConnon said.

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