Hastings going out of business all of a sudden?

[BCforISU]

If true, that is one of the most pathetic things I have ever seen.

I used Spark notes through college, high school was easy enough to cheat through. To tell you the truth, sitting down to a nice book just isn't appealing to me whats so ever. It isn't very nice of you to call it pathetic, how about I am not lazy and would rather help a friend side their garage than curl up to a f'n book. The only reason I am reading one now is when I fly, which has been a lot lately.

Reading is for people who can't face life, or want to quote other people.

[Cyclone62]

I used Spark notes through college, high school was easy enough to cheat through. To tell you the truth, sitting down to a nice book just isn't appealing to me whats so ever. It isn't very nice of you to call it pathetic, how about I am not lazy and would rather help a friend side their garage than curl up to a f'n book. The only reason I am reading one now is when I fly, which has been a lot lately.

Reading is for people who can't face life, or want to quote other people.

and literates.

[CycloneErik]

and literates.

I wish I could quote somebody about that.

[Cyclone62]

I wish I could quote somebody about that.

Did I miss a joke somewhere?

[HawkfromNorwalk]

I'm actually shocked it lasted this long. They had another store in Marshalltown that opened roughly the same time period that the Ames one did in the late 90's. Unfortunately for the one in Marshalltown it was half a block away from the high school and by the time they closed in 2001 they not only had to employee two full time security guards but they had to limit how many people could be in the store at once because theft was so bad. After a while people started avoiding it and the store finally shut down. I'm pretty sure the Ames Hastings was the only store left in about a 500 mile radius.

[Frak]

Really sucks. We rented our movies from there. The place had a lot of cool stuff...more than books, dvds, video games. And it had it's own coffee shop. Oh well, that's a prime space, so I doubt it's vacant for too long. Way too much traffic in that parking lot for it to sit empty.

[RyCy04]

I use to work at Hastings while in college. Pretty sweet gig. Just sat around and talked music and movies with customers all day. That said, I am surprised it lasted as long as it did. It was going downhill the last time I stepped foot in there and that was 5+ years ago.

[1100011CS]

I think Netflix and Redbox are killing a lot of video stores. Hollywood Video, one of only two video stores in M'town, closed last week out of the blue.

[RayShimley]

Are they selling off their inventory or just moving it to another store?

[Frak]

Are they selling off their inventory or just moving it to another store?

Moving most of it, but there are markdowns all over.

[jdoggivjc]

I loved that place. If for nothing else it was fun to go there just to look around and write up a Christmas list. It sucks that it's going out of business, but as others have said, it really doesn't surprise me all that much, either. Back in 2002-2003 when I was finishing up at ISU it really wasn't seeing all that much business, and that was just before Best Buy and Borders rolled around.

[mapnerd]

I think Netflix and Redbox are killing a lot of video stores. Hollywood Video, one of only two video stores in M'town, closed last week out of the blue.

I agree - there is no hope for video stores unless they make some major changes. Netflix is awesome, IMO. I think downloadable content and on-demand will only get better, so they are facing an uphill battle.

[CycoCyclone]

nothing to do with hastings costing $5 more than best buy on everything

[jdoggivjc]

nothing to do with Best Buy undercutting hastings by $5 on everything

Probably a little bit closer to the truth, but that still doesn't change the fact that they were still more expensive.

[Tarbox]

Hollywood Video is closing soon as well.