Hastings Ent. closed every location one year ago, and its almost too much to handle for some.
On all hollows eve of the year 2016, we said goodbye to one of the world's most diverse entertainment stores. Hastings Entertainment was a perfect place for all walks of life to meet and mingle. Whether you were there to buy cd's, books, games, movies, coffee, or just kill time until you could no longer make it to family thanksgiving, it was a place most people deemed as "a home away from home". Hastings missing means that a piece of all of us are missing, and copycat stores don't suffice. Vintage stock is great, but it just doesn't come close to what Hastings was and what they were about, diversity. Diversity as in the variety of products and services, as well as races. No one cared what nationality or race you were when you went into a Hastings location, if you were passionate about a product that they carried. Which could've been anything on television, any music, or anything in text. You can't fake passion and the customers of Hastings could tell a fake. Fake Hasting goers were always those parents with kids (who thoroughly enjoyed the store) that would be overweight and huffing for Jacob to pick a cd already. When they were missing the point of such a wonderful store's experience in the first place. Its not about running in and grabbing one thing. This wasn't some kind of deli counter, where you hop in and grab a pound of chicken fronts, this was a wine tasting of a place, to be swirled, smelled, and savored. I hope that we can all think back to a time to when we were excited to go to a physical place that made us all so happy. Older generations might think of this as Home Depot trips with their now deceased father. Others may think of skimming through the aisles of PetSmart the day they bought their best friend mittens. If we all try to realize that everything means something to somebody, I think we can grow closer as a species, and stop the drifting apart at every chance given for us to divide. Lets all rejoice in the freedom of choice and acknowledge that we might be a little different, but in the end, we are all the same. Embrace each other, empower each other.
- Bill Pantsplitter