Karen Tiller pushed a shopping cart down a short, drab hallway, holding two sets of camouflage jackets, matching pants and a box of T-Fal pots and pans. The word "Layaway" stretches across the top of the hallway's entrance.

One by one, Tiller lifted her selections -- some Christmas presents for family -- onto a counter. A cashier totaled the prices. Tiller's order came to $146. She paid $40 down on the items and left, empty-handed.

By putting her items on layaway, Tiller arranged to come back in two weeks to pay on the total purchase.

By Dec. 7, Tiller and others who have items on layaway at Kmart must claim their merchandise, paying for the orders in full.

Kmart is one of few Roanoke Valley retailers that still offer layaway. Stores that have it include T.J. Maxx and Marshalls -- both are owned by TJX Cos. -- Samuels Diamonds in Roanoke and MLC Furniture at Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke County.

Layaway gained popularity during the Great Depression of the 1930s as a service allowing customers to pay for items in increments over a period of time. The store agrees to hold merchandise while customers pay their balances. The layaway tradition is from an era before credit cards made an anachronism out of the idea that one fully consummates a purchase before taking possession of the item.

Layaway received some attention last year when Wal-Mart dropped the practice. More people now use credit cards for purchases, so retailers figure that layaway isn't worth the time and money spent, said Dan Butler, vice president of merchandising and retail operations at the National Retail Federation in Washington, D.C.

Layaway "really is almost obsolete in the industry," he said.

Those retailers that continue layaway insist it's an important customer service.

"It's still very much utilized at our stores, especially at the holidays," said Kimberly Freely, a spokeswoman for Sears Holding Corp., which owns Sears and Kmart stores. Sears also offers layaway but only for fine jewelry priced at $50 or more and certain big-ticket items.

Tiller, a Roanoke resident, puts items on layaway several times a year. She was a regular user of Wal-Mart's layaway service before it was discontinued, and she called the discount retailer's decision to end it "a bad move, especially around the holidays."

She said she prefers shopping at Wal-Mart because of its larger selections. And Tiller said she likes the flexibility of paying for an item over time without being tied to a credit card, which accrues interest.

"I'm not going to use credit cards for Christmas and keep paying on it all year," she said.

Kmart's layaway service requires customers to pay 10 percent or $10, whichever is greater, when the item is first put on layaway, along with a $5 fee. The total balance must be paid in eight weeks. Payments of specified amounts also are required every two weeks.

Besides being a boon to financial planning, layaway can also provide a convenient way to avoid pre-Christmas clutter. Sandra Brooks said she uses layaway as a way to keep purchases from accumulating in her home.

In early November she put two pairs of shoes and a brown winter coat on layaway at T.J. Maxx at Tanglewood Mall. Her total purchase was $148, and Brooks paid $20 up front.

"I'll come back and get it in another week," said Brooks, of Roanoke. "I just don't want to take it home right now."

At T.J. Maxx, customers have 30 days to pay off layaway purchases, after putting down 10 percent or $10 on the item initially. They also must pay a $5 service fee.

The inconvenience of layaway outweighs the benefits for some customers and retailers.

Take Jean Smith of Roanoke County. While shopping at T.J. Maxx during a recent afternoon, she confessed that she never has placed an item on layaway. She said she buys most everything with her credit card.

"It's more convenient," Smith said.

To pay on a layaway item, shoppers typically have to take the time to visit the store rather than merely logging online as they might to pay on a credit card.

For some retailers, layaway also is costly.

"Sometimes people pay off half of it [an item on layaway], and then change their mind," said Margie Johnson, a retail consultant in Virginia Beach.

These customers may not return to claim the merchandise, potentially costing a store more money because the item was not on the sales floor for that time, Johnson said.

Plus, extra services mean more time and resources required for stores, though Butler could not estimate exactly how much layaway would cost a retailer.

"Any service requires staff time, the paperwork involved, the ticketing," he said. "There are kind of obvious and hidden costs" with layaway.

If customers miss the date on which they are required to pay off their items, most stores put them back on store shelves.

That's what happened to Charlene Clark of Roanoke. She arrived at Kmart recently to find that her items on layaway, worth $400 to $500, had been returned to the store's selling floor because she had not paid the layaway in time. That afternoon, Clark set out to try to find the items in the store.

At least one local store owner said she believes layaway actually helps attract more business.

Layaway has been offered at MLC Furniture at Tanglewood Mall since the store opened three years ago. MLC's Rocky Mount store, which has been open for 15 years, also offers layaway. Donna Tatum, a co-owner, said about 25 percent of MLC's customers use the service.

The customers who use it are often impulse buyers, she said. There's a $200 minimum purchase on layaway items, though a shopper must put an amount down that's a third of the total price.

Layaway "helped them [customers] feel better about their purchase," Tatum said. The practice helps MLC's owners feel better too, she said, because they "sell more."