This is supposed to be a socks-and-sweaters kind of Christmas, but the layaway customers at the Kmart at Parkway Center Mall in Green Tree have other plans.

A cinder-block-lined storage room tucked behind a curtain at the layaway counter is filling up. Aisles created with rows of pallets, and shelving that stands five or more levels tall are overstuffed to the point that it's hard to focus on individual shopper selections.

Here's a bed cover, there's a microwave and over there a crockpot. Is that an Elmo seat? A Eureka vacuum cleaner? Dish sets. Bags of clothes hang on the wall. What's in these locked cabinets? IPods? Notice the eight bicycles just outside the entrance. And all the toys, toys, toy, toys.

And that's not all! A stockroom next door has been partially annexed. There are high-definition TVs and Guitar Hero games. And Wiis. A wall -- OK, a short wall -- is loaded up with Nintendo Wii systems tagged and ready to be pulled when that last payment is plunked down on the layaway counter outside.

Kmart store manager Jodie Strother said the store's layaway levels already match those at the end of the 2008 holiday layaway season -- and there's weeks still to go. "The stockrooms are bulging," she said, looking around at the piles.

On a recent Tuesday -- who expects a layaway rush on a Tuesday? -- part-time layaway specialist Laurie Tibi worked from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. straight just to keep up with the line of shoppers. Experience has taught her to keep hard candies stashed in her pockets.

Kmart has offered layaway for more years than the 20 that Ms. Strother has been with the retail chain. Over the years, many other retailers abandoned the practice as the expense and complications of hanging onto goods while customers made payments became a hassle. So many people were using credit cards, layaway didn't seem important.

But as the recession, and the financial market crisis, rolled over America last year, a certain group of shoppers rediscovered the retailers that offered layaway. Now they -- both the shoppers and the retailers -- are a growing group, although still a small percentage of the whole.

A Consumers Reports poll last year found 7 percent of Americans planning to use layaway. This year, a survey in October by BIGresearch in Columbus, Ohio, found more than 11 percent either very likely or somewhat likely to use it.

While another 68.5 percent told BIGresearch that they were not likely to be layaway customers -- for some people it brings back memories of tough times, others don't like being tied to payments every couple of weeks -- those who find it to be a useful shopping tool have enough pull to catch retailers' attention.

"Last year, I think it took us all a little by surprise how popular it was with the customers at Kmart," said Tom Aiello, vice president of public relations for Sears and Kmart. In November 2008, the company quickly brought the service back to its Sears stores.

He said just as interesting was that people continued to use it after the holidays -- buying fitness equipment in January, baby items in the spring, grills for the summer and back-to-school clothes.

In addition to Kmart and Sears, a number of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores have layaway, as does Burlington Coat Factory. This year, Toys R Us began a layaway program for big items. There are reports Best Buy is testing layaway in a few stores. Several sites online offer layaway, including elayaway.com and lay-away.com. Both Kmart and Sears this year added online layaway to their options.

"I actually wish other people had it," said Jen Dietz, a Brookline mother who put $268 worth of toys into layaway at the Green Tree Kmart last week as her 2-year-old daughter played in the stroller. Ms. Dietz is getting ready to move and doesn't want to add more to the goods that have to be transported. "It's easier for me to have it here."

Her own mother, Marie Miller, also of Brookline, used layaway years ago when she had her own small children and tight budgets. "It's just easier financially," Ms. Miller said, adding that she doesn't use layaway much anymore.

Together, they summed up some of the main reasons that many people use layaway: Less debt piling up on a credit card and accumulating interest charges. Taking advantage of a sale even if you don't have enough cash to buy the item outright. And keeping holiday gifts hiding in someone else's storage room.

"I think a lot of times the layaway here is a storage room," said Ms. Strother, who doesn't mind customers filling up her extra space, even if it means devoting extra staff time to taking information, payments and boxing up items to be stored.

She started back in August planning how to shift staff and merchandise around to make it work better than last year, when the unexpected surge in demand laid siege to the backroom. Her staff regularly works with customers who need a few extra days to make their payments or can't get in on time.

Kmart changed a few things this year to make the process work better. Computer systems allow staff to tag seasonal items that must be paid for by Dec. 4, including that brown box with the peppermint stick wrapping paper coming out of the top. Customers can pay online and can get e-mail reminders of payments due.

The retailer also avoided promotions that allowed customers to put very little down to hold merchandise. Those were used last year and probably a third of the shoppers last year didn't bother to come back for their merchandise, said Ms. Strother.

In most layaway programs, including Kmart's, shoppers must pay a layaway fee, plus a percentage down. If they don't keep up with the payments and complete the deal, the retailer keeps some of the money. Often layaway programs include restrictions on taking advantage of discounts offered after an item is taken off the sales floor and reserved in layaway.

At places such as Sears and Toys R Us, there isn't a lot of available space for storing items. The toy retailer stores some off-site, while Sears finds a place for apparel items but may order TVs after 80 percent of the payments are made.

Not all T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores have layaway. Locally the Marshalls stores that do include the one at the Waterworks center in the city near Aspinwall, as well as those in Homestead, Green Tree, Ross, Robinson, Monroeville, Monaca and Greensburg. T.J. Maxx stores in at the Waterworks and in Homestead also do layaway, according to the retailer's Web site.

Wal-Mart stopped doing layaway in 2006, except in its fine jewelry department. A spokeswoman said there were no plans to reintroduce it. "Traditional layaway programs are expensive to operate," said Kelly Cheeseman, who added that Wal-Mart decided that wasn't the best way to keep prices low.

Mr. Aiello said Kmart and Sears had the systems and logistics in place to make it work. "We continue to offer it because customers wanted it."

For all the rules, restrictions and extra work, Ms. Strother at Kmart wouldn't want it to go away. "Absolutely, it's worth it," she said. "I could never sell this amount of product if I didn't have this system."

While some Kmart stores last year had to stop taking layaway because they ran out of room, she doesn't expect that to happen at her store. She's determined to make sure it doesn't.

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