Even more striking, an overwhelming surge in the demand for gold has forced several Internet sites and gold vendors to temporarily shut down their sales operations.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. We’re basically sold out until the end of the year,” said Robert Hartmann, co-founder of ProAurum, a gold vendor based in Munich.

Despite the shortages, about 200 customers line up at his counter every day, he said, asking for coins and bars, not certificates. According to his estimates, “only about 5 percent of German investors” are interested in converting a small part of their savings to gold, “but it’s enough to put suppliers under strain.”

Mr. Heinz, the financial adviser, started diversifying his investments in the run-up to the 1992 recession. He has bought land and gradually built up a stock of gold, which he buys in small units, suitable as emergency payment, and keeps in a safe at a specialized company.

Experts who sounded the death knell for layaway were too quick with the eulogies.

The slumping economy has prodded many merchants for the first time in years to promote this form of installment buying, which dates from the Great Depression. Anecdotal evidence suggests layaway is gaining traction with tapped-out consumers.

Wal-Mart stopped taking layaway orders in 2006, citing an era of easy credit and the headaches of handling the goods. Well, guess what? Consumer credit is getting tighter at a time when rising joblessness, foreclosures and prices make it harder to pay off credit card debt.

“The American consumer didn’t vote to end layaway, only retailers,” said Michael Bilello, vice president of business development for eLayway.com, a three-year-old Tallahassee startup that handles layaway for 1,000 retailers and wants to be the PayPal of a revived industry. “People this year are wising up to their parents’ advice: If you can’t pay in full, try layaway.”