Well, shoot, they're closing Hastings

[AoTFan]

I just found out yesterday that Hastings filed bankruptcy and all the stores will be closing.  

For the uninitiated, Hastings is a chain of stores that has a variety of stuff.  They rent (and sell) movies, and games, along with books, comics, cards, posters music equipment, CDs, and all kinda of novelty stuff from (like action figures and things) from various pop culture stuff, like action figures from movies, anime, comics book, TV shows, you name it.  

I really liked the place, even though I never seemed to have much money to spend on anything.  I'd get a serious case of "Oh, my God, there's so much cool stuff to look at!  Where to start?" every time I went there. Plus it's been in our area for just over twenty years, so I don't know.. I guess it's silly, but I'm feeling kind of depressed about this.

Anyway, spoke to a worker there (feel sorry for those guys too) and he said they'll probably close in October.  Until then, they'll be doing sales each weeked to liquidate their merchandise.  

I suppose it was inevitable though, what with reading declining, and a lot people getting their movies and music online.  Still there's just something to be said  for actually having a physical place you can go and LOOK at stuff, you know?  

[indianasmith]

Our local Hastings has been my second home for the last decade or more.
I am truly depressed about this.

[ER]

Lights out, Taps, farewell. The age of the bookstore is concluding, and with it comes a greater loss than we may at first realize.

[alandhopewell]

     I'll miss Hastings; they have tons of neat stuff, they'd buy my unwanted DVDs, sometimes at a profit for me if I bought them cheap from Amazon, and they don't have that snooty, Barnes and Noble vibe going.

[Trevor]

I felt the same when the DVD/ Bluray/ CD chain store Look and Listen closed here: they were in almost every mall and they offered stuff that you could only find on Amazon on the shelves.

Unfortunately their prices were very high: I once remember seeing a DVD of Mona Lisa (1986) for ZAR600 (about $60  ) and those costs led to their closure.

[AoTFan]

Hastings was a second home for me as well when I first moved out on my own (back in 95).  I didn't have a computer then, so I took up comic book collecting and watching cheesy movies.  At the time, you could rent their older films for only $0.49 and they had a pretty kickass selection of horror and cheesy action films I hadn't seen.  

(sigh)

Wonder if our local Family Video stores will be next? Or maybe The Book Rack?  The used book store I sometimes go to...

[sprite75]

Sorry to hear that. 

Sounds like Hastings was a cool place.  We didn't have them around here at all.  Looks like they weren't really in the upper Midwest - none in IA, IL, WI, MN, MI, or the Dakotas.  The nearest one to me was in Kirksville, Missouri and I didn't even know these places existed up until now.

[FatFreddysCat]

Yep, I am extremely bummed. I've never actually set foot in a Hastings store - they don't have any locations in New Jersey - but they've been my "go-to" site for cheap used CDs for about five years now. They've kept my CD addiction well fed. :(

When I first started hearing rumors that they were going to go out of business a couple of weeks ago I jumped on their site and ordered one last big used-CD haul of about a dozen discs. The last CD from that haul arrived in the mail this past Wednesday... and they announced their liquidation the next day, Thursday the 21st. Timing is everything!! :D

I will miss them. Hail and farewell. :(

[Chainsawmidget]

I haven't had one around me for the longest time, but when I lived in texas, I went there constantly. 

[AoTFan]

Two things. 

In all the stores they have signs up saying they have "temporally" suspended movie rentals and on the website, they have a link for people who want to apply to get a job at Hastings. 

If you want to see it, it's next to the position for VHS rewinder.

[lester1/2jr]

they got a lot of bad press due to the indiana smith book signings they had there.

[Ed, Ego and Superego]

Hastings was the lifeline to books,  movies and music for a kid in Wyoming.   I'll miss them
-Ed

[CheezeFlixz]

I have no local Hasting but use to buy from them online .. seem they have shut down their online sales. Closest one to me is about 100 miles away - sad truth is brick and mortar stores will have trouble without a strong online presents which I actually thought Hastings had.

[AoTFan]

Been visiting my local Hastings here and there to see if there's anything I want to get.  It's a bit like visiting a friend with cancer over a course of time and watching him get more and more emaciated - bare shelves, empty spaces, all the posters taken down. 

According to the website, they're now discounting everything 30 to 50 percent off, although at this point the pickings might be a little slim.   

[indianasmith]

I've been going to ours once a week and buying books.  Fortunately there aren't a lot of history nerds around here, so the biographies and historical works are not as slimmed out as the fiction section is becoming.