Hastings Closing Up Shop

[Sanford]

Hastings Entertainment to be liquidated by Oct. 31

Hastings Entertainment will be liquidated, according to court documents filed Wednesday.

Bidding on the beleaguered company in a Delaware bankruptcy court ended Wednesday afternoon, and according to the agency agreement an “everything must go” sale, which ends Oct. 31 at the latest, will be the end of the Amarillo retail chain’s story.

Hilco Merchant Resources LLC and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC, two financial consultation and management companies, bought the company in a contractual joint venture.

The documents say that these companies, which will oversee 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 Hasting 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.

The money earned by selling off Hastings’ inventory will go to Bank of America and Pathlight Capital, both of which provided the company capital during the bankruptcy proceedings.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Hastings’ debts total roughly $139 million, but the courts have deemed the total value of the sale to be between $106 million and $114 million. The documents guarantee that the creditors will receive 75 percent of that amount.

If the sale should exceed that threshold, then the joint venture will receive an up-front fee of 6.5 percent on the excess, and anything beyond that fee will be divided 50-50 between the venture and Draw Another Circle, Hastings’ parent company.

Although the court has another 24-to-48 hours to finalize the documents, it appears the agreement will go through.

According to the court documents, which are available on the Amarillo Globe-News website at Amarillo.com, the company is only required to give employees a seven-day notice if they are to be terminated at any point during the liquidation of inventory.

A Hastings employee at the Georgia Street store in Amarillo, who declined to be identified because he had not been authorized by corporate management to speak to the media, described a feeling of limbo for employees at the store, where both rumors of bidders coming to the rescue and whispers of imminent liquidation were circulating.

"As far as I'm concerned, it’s business as usual tomorrow," the employee said.

Hastings customers leaving the store on South Georgia street Wednesday evening reacted to the news of the store’s fate.

“It’s really unfortunate,” said Alex Hernandez. “From what I’ve read, Hastings had a really big start here in Amarillo, and I think when it comes down to it, it’s hard to see companies go but that’s kind of how life is sometimes.”

Hernandez, 21, said he would visit Hastings to buy comic books and vinyl records.

“It’s a very niche store,” he said. “Now that it’s not around, it’s going to be hard to find other options.”

While disappointed by the closure, customer Taylor Martin, 23, didn’t seem surprised.

“We don’t buy a lot here but it’s nice to browse; you can do it on the internet but it’s not the same. A lot of people know there’s better deals on the internet so they buy on Amazon instead of in the store,” she said. “And I do that too. I see a book that’s $14 and I know I can get it used on Amazon for like a penny.”

Founded by Sam Marmaduke in 1968 in Amarillo, the company currently employs about 3,850 people. There are 36 Hastings locations in Texas alone, which account for 1,200 jobs, more than 400 of which are distributed between the three store locations and main distribution center in Amarillo.

The agreement marks the beginning of the end for Amarillo’s retail success story. Hastings’ business model was one of delivering specialty entertainment to small and medium-sized markets that did not have access to many entertainment products found in larger cities. Marmaduke referred to this policy as “running to the light.”

On Wednesday, Jacob Roberts, a Colorado-based artist, tweeted that he was “hoping for good news today about [Hastings] and their auction. My life would be incomplete without my store, so please save these stores!”

Unfortunately for Roberts, and many other shoppers who grew up with a Hastings location in their community, that apparently won’t be the case.

 

[Okie4570]

Seen a sign on their door last week where they're no longer honoring valid gift cards or account credits. No refunds or exchanges.

 

[dennishoddy]

The one in Ponca quit renting videos last week. You can buy them though.

 

[mugsy]

Hastings Entertainment to be liquidated by Oct. 31

I hadn't heard of this previously but the last two times I went to Hastings in Lawton I noticed the signs about not honoring gift cards and saw the shrinking inventory.
It would be nice if the local Starbucks would set up a deal with Barnes & Noble to open a combined book store/Starbucks - however, this is Lawton...which itself is the reason we can't have anything nice.

 

[Fredkrueger100]

That's sad. Been around for a long time. My son loved to go in there. Heck, I did too. I feel bad for the employees. But like one of the customers said, you can get it online for much cheaper. I would rather pay a little more and get it when I want it. But apparently the majority don't do that.

 

[sh00ter]

long time...can't say I've been there in 15yrs or more so if everyone did that then it took its toll.

 

[Profreedomokie]

I'll be there tomorrow night to add to my collection.

 

[p238shooter]

And the economy is doing great, just ask the Dems.

 

[deerwhacker444]

Bummer. Hastings was The place for music and videos in Stillwater in the 90's.

 

[backspur]

Bummer. Hastings was The place for music and videos in Stillwater in the 90's.

This. When I was in school and couldn't afford cable I'd go to Hastings and rent $0.49 VHS tapes. I remember going up there 5 times the day Tombstone was released trying to get a copy. I'd also go there to get a replacement when I wore out a cassette tape of The Great Divide.