When I was 11, I waited outside a Hastings store early on a Saturday morning. When the doors were finally opened, I rushed in and bought a copy of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." I heaved the enormous book home and read it in a matter of days. The memory is faint, but powerful.
If you visited Logan, Utah just a few months ago, you most likely would have been inexplicably drawn to Hastings; a retail store that sold everything from comic books to video games, young adult novels to classic western films. It was a special place that nurtured the nerd, or geek, or bookworm, or film connoissuer in all of us.
But now, Logan has changed. Just a few weeks ago, Hastings closed its doors for the last time. Early this Summer, it was announced that Hastings Entertainment had filed for bankruptcy and that all of its retail stores across the Western US would be closed by the end of October.
Despite the failure of Blockbuster Video and Hollywood Video, Hastings Entertainment continued to thrive in a world of instantaneous internet streaming. Hastings stood as a memorial to the days of yore; the days when families would flock to rental stores on a Friday night to pick out a movie and pick up some pizza on the way back home.
The details behind the fall of Hastings Entertainment are still hazy. Honestly, I was very surprised when I heard their closing announcement. The store always seemed to be quite popular. They had a wide variety of merchandise and a quaint little coffee shop in one corner. If you wanted to find a fun gift for friends or family, it was the first place to look. Perhaps we will never know exactly what caused Hastings to lose out in today's market.
Luckily, Logan does have other, smaller stores that specialize in comic books, board/card games, and novelties. These places will most likely benefit from these events. But still, Logan now lacks a place that provides a wide variety of movies and books. Back in 2011, Logan also lost Borders Books and Music when it filed for bankruptcy.
It seems that the world is always changing and we are constantly urged to adapt. There are mornings when we wake up and realize that what we did the day before is no longer possible. There are those moments when we have to leave the rut of routine and explore uncharted territory. Parts of our life that we once thought were essential, are readily discarded and replaced. I really do wish that Hastings could have remained in my life, but alas, it was not to be. Now, is a different time then the past and tomorrow will bring new discoveries.
Goodbye, Hastings.
