Remembering Hastings Entertainment 🖤

To my friends in the United States, especially the south central and midwest states, did you ever visit Hastings before they all closed down?  Sometimes when the nostalgia hits, I think about the many hours I spent in those stores as a teenager. 

For anyone who doesn't know, Hastings was a superstore that had books, movies, magazines, videogames, and music. Not to mention all the other assorted stationery and collectibles and posters and stuff they carried. This store had it all - aisles upon aisles of everything. 

When I was in high school, I spent about 2-3 years going back and forth to an orthodontist in a city about 45 minutes away from the town I lived in. My dad would drive me there, and I always brought the allowance I'd saved up since the last appointment because we *always* stopped at the huge Hastings after I got out of my appointment. 

I would go in with a list of the CDs I already owned and I'd always make a beeline to the music aisles. Usually I was after hair metal when I was there, and that particular location always had a ton. I'm pretty sure that's where I found all my W.A.S.P. albums.

As I shopped, I regularly paused to calculate what was in my basket so that I could buy the maximum possible amount of (mostly used) CDs with the cash I brought. I think I managed as many as 10 in one trip, but it was usually about 5-8.

The drive home would be fun because I'd always unwrap them all in the car. And since my dad liked the hair metal too (and still does), we'd pop one of my new acquisitions into the stereo for the drive. 

And then I got my driver's license. That opened things up so that I could go to the other couple of nearby-ish locations. Any time I decided to drive myself to a bigger town to do some shopping or whatever, I always made sure I stopped by for a quick browse.

And one of the already numerous cherries on top of this sundae? The cashiers never asked for ID. Ever. I bought more than a couple of CDs with the "explicit content" warning on them before I turned 18 and they never cared. I bought my copy of "Rocky Horror Picture Show" when I was 17 the same way because I knew they wouldn't care. 

Once I got to university, I didn't visit the stores as often because there wasn't one nearby, but for several years that was one of my favorite places in the world.

I think Hastings is a big reason why I don't really order CDs online. Sometimes I will if it's a new release I want and that's the best way to get it. But for everything else? It's all about the hunt. It's about the thrill of digging through stacks upon stacks of discs looking for treasure. And I wouldn't have it any other way. 🖤

So RIP to one of the greatest entertainment stores I've ever known. I can't believe it's been 10 years since it's been gone. 

Hastings Entertainment: 1968-2016