Hastings to close all stores
<p>Customers enter the Hastings store, located on E. Best Ave, on Thursday. The Hastings Entertainment headquarters filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection five weeks ago. A closing date of the local store has yet to be announced.</p>
Hastings is closing, not only here, but everywhere.
The book and entertainment media seller announced Thursday its stores, e-commerce and corporate office will discontinue operations at the end of a liquidation process.
Coeur d’Alene resident Zach Brennan has been going to Hastings to buy vinyl albums for four years now.
“It’s a bummer, but I understand,” he said. “[The store] is not as vital as it once was. Hardcopy anything is on its way out.”
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection five weeks ago, intending to find a buyer that would help it complete its remerchandising strategy. Instead, the winning buyer was a joint venture that will oversee a liquidation of the stores. In a company statement, Hastings indicated the move will “ensure we are maximizing the value of all of our remaining merchandise and assets as we prepare to close.”
The bankruptcy court is expected to approve an agreement Friday with the companies who will oversee the store closing sales — Hilco Merchant Resources LLC and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC.
Hastings did not disclose when the stores will be closed and would not comment on a timeline for any individual stores.
However, according to the Amarillo-Globe News — a newspaper in the same Texas city as Hastings Entertainment headquarters — court documents filed Wednesday state the companies overseeing the liquidation will be authorized to advertise the move as a “store closing,” “sale on everything,” “going out of business” sale.
“On a store-by-store basis, any Hastings store can close at any time, but only after giving employees a seven-day notice, and the sale of all merchandise must be complete by Oct. 31,” states the Amarillo paper.
The company issued a statement thanking its customers and employees for their longtime loyalty.
Peg Freeman has lived in the Coeur d’Alene area all her life and has been coming to Hastings to buy books and music for as long as she can remember.
“This is really sad,” she said Thursday, after finding out the store will be closing. “It’s going to be a lot harder to find books and music at one store with one big selection. I have a tablet, but I still like to hold a book. This is just really sad.”