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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2016 15:48:35 GMT -5
So it looks like the Hastings chain of booksellers, which has the largest Diamond account in the country and is the closest to a nationwide comic book store chain is in deep financial trouble and if it cannot find investors to capitalize their operations or a buyer to take over, they may start closing some, or all of their stores. story on Bleeding CoolHastings, with their retailer exclusives and heavy buy-ins on variants as well as stocking for a nationwide chain probably represents at a conservative guess 10-15% of the volume of sales for Diamond, so if it does close, publishers could see a significant slash on their month to month sales. Will some end customers find other places to buy comics, sure, but remember Diamond sales charts and publisher sales numbers reflect sales to retailers not end customers and with the Hastings customer base in diaspora and retailers usually overbuying what sells anyways, there's no guarantee that even if customers find other outlets, those outlets would increase their sales anywhere near what would be needed to compensate the loss of Hastings sales. Just the loss of Hastings over-orders to qualify for variants and their own retailer exclusive variants would be a big hit on comic sales. Hopefully Hastings can find the cash to keep solvent, as mega stores with multiple media/entertainment forms as their trade in stock are one of the few places the comics market can find casual fans and readers to grow the market outside its hardcore niche base, so the loss of an outlet like that would not only be a loss of sale sfor the industry, but a loss of potential growth of its customer base as well, and we all see what the loss of a potential growth of the customer base has done to the industry since they abandoned the newsstands. Of course Hastings didn't switch to Diamond and abandon other newsstand distribution for comics until 2012, when they sought to deepen and diversify their selection of comics at the sacrifice of returnability (And about the time Marvel and DC pulled a lot of the tiny remnant of their distribution on newsstands off the table (i.e. Marvel no longer being made available o B&N and the like). So in four years of being a Diamond account, they went form one of the growing juggernauts in the entertainment retail business to one one the verge of insolvency. I am sure The Diamond deal was not the only issue they face, other entertainment media has taken a hit, but it does point to the weaknesses of the direct market model in today's economic landscape. -M |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2016 16:10:06 GMT -5
This stinks. I buy a lot of toys and collectibles at Hastings.  |
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Post by earl on Jun 12, 2016 16:58:47 GMT -5
"Also large purchases of back issue collections from closed comic book stores having been sitting in Hastings back issue bins, often containing large amounts of previously unsalable 90’s comics, leaving Hastings with a sizable comic book inventory it can’t move..."
The 90s comic glut continues to decimate two decades down the line.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jun 12, 2016 20:48:40 GMT -5
I've never heard of hastings.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2016 20:58:26 GMT -5
I've never heard of hastings. The Northeast is one of the few regions they had very little market penetration, so that's not a huge surprise (a quick search of their store locator shows they operate as Movie Stop in New England, with stores in Leominster and North Attleboro in MA and Seekonk in RI). I wasn't aware of them until I started seeing Hastings specific variants for some books and kind of found out about them in a roundabout way, but the closest one to me is in Indiana so I've never been. They seem to be most prevalent in the midwest, Rocky Mountain states and South of the US though. They have it looks like 126 megastores in operation and all would close if they do not receive funding, so pretty much the equivalent of Diamond, Marvel, DC etc. losing 126 stores worth of sales if it happens. They seem to focus mostly on big2 stuff, top sellers, and licensed merch, so it might not hit some of the mid-tier indy or smaller publishers as hard. They also do a lot with toys, action figures and collectibles, so that revenue stream would take a hit fro Diamond and the big2 as well. -M |
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Post by hondobrode on Jun 12, 2016 22:55:14 GMT -5
When Hastings got into the direct market it instantly became the biggest comic chain in the US.
They're here in Oklahoma and I've seen them in other states as well.
Not sure comics fans go there as much as casual entertainment.
Yes, it would hit the Top Five publishers, but, the direct market model needs to be revamped.
I applaud having digital available, but can't believe that something couldn't be worked out with Wal-Mart. Print a special Wal-Mart edition that's returnable and I think they'd sell.
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Post by coke & comics on Jun 13, 2016 3:15:45 GMT -5
I've never heard of hastings. The Northeast is one of the few regions they had very little market penetration, so that's not a huge surprise (a quick search of their store locator shows they operate as Movie Stop in New England, with stores in Leominster and North Attleboro in MA and Seekonk in RI). I wasn't aware of them until I started seeing Hastings specific variants for some books and kind of found out about them in a roundabout way, but the closest one to me is in Indiana so I've never been. They seem to be most prevalent in the midwest, Rocky Mountain states and South of the US though. They have it looks like 126 megastores in operation and all would close if they do not receive funding, so pretty much the equivalent of Diamond, Marvel, DC etc. losing 126 stores worth of sales if it happens. They seem to focus mostly on big2 stuff, top sellers, and licensed merch, so it might not hit some of the mid-tier indy or smaller publishers as hard. They also do a lot with toys, action figures and collectibles, so that revenue stream would take a hit fro Diamond and the big2 as well. -M I'd never heard of it as a west coaster either. Nor in the couple states I've lived in since leaving the coast. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2016 3:38:46 GMT -5
Hmmm let's see, the largest single brick and mortar chain of comic sellers(ordering the largest volumes of copies of most major publisher comics as well-larger than most of the mail order services since they are the largest Diamond account) and even most of us hardened comics fans haven't heard of them....speaks volumes for the market penetration and awareness of print comic books in the American marketplace...and even that is looking like it could end...oh yeah the comics industry is as healthy as they spin it all right...
-M
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Post by Icctrombone on Jun 13, 2016 5:49:51 GMT -5
Not to be too fatalistic but, maybe Comics has to go away and come back as something else altogether. The monthly pace can be replaced by GN that come out every few months. We are very much a niche product at this moment. Even the movies don't give a sales bump to the monthly sales.
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Post by hondobrode on Jun 13, 2016 8:19:03 GMT -5
from ICv2.com
HASTINGS GIVES 375 HQ EMPLOYEES 'PLANT CLOSING' NOTICE
Seeking Full or Partial Sale of the Company
Posted by Milton Griepp on June 13, 2016 @ 1:07 am CT
Retail chain Hastings Entertainment has given its 375 headquarters employees in Amarillo, Texas a "plant closing notice," a warning under the WARN Act that “mass layoffs” may occur, according to KFDA TV. The law provides that if a "mass layoff" occurs (our recollection is that the cutoff is 50 employees or more), 60-day notice must be given, and employees must be paid for that entire period whether they are working or not (unless they quit).
Hastings COO Jim Litwak told employees that the company "is actively seeking buyers or investors that will give us the additional financial stability we need to move forward," but that the company had to plan for what would happen if those efforts were unsuccessful, which led to the layoff notice.
The Hastings chain was acquired by a company controlled by WizKids parent NECA owner Joel Weinshanker in July of 2014, taking out the company-founding Marmaduke family (see "NECA/WizKids Owner Buys Hastings"). At the time of the acquisition, the company was operating 126 stores averaging 24,000 square feet. It has recently begun a new store model by remerchandising 20 stores, “which are already showing improved performance,” according to Hastings VP-Marketing and Advertising Kevin Ball.
Hastings was bleeding money before it was acquired (see "Hastings Sales Slide Continues"), and remerchandising stores isn’t cheap. At this point it sounds like there isn’t enough capital in the company to make the pivot, and Weinshanker is apparently unwilling to increase his investment, hence the search for additional capital or a new owner.
It’s been a tough decade for stores that sell packaged media, with from some to nearly all of their sales moving to digital delivery, dominated by a handful of Internet giants, and the remaining physical sales under ferocious assault by Amazon. So like Hastings, they’re moving to products that can’t be delivered digitally, a strategy being pursued by GameStop (see "Gamestop a Growing Force in Geek Mercha nd Games"), f.y.e. (see "Trend Sales Up 65% at Trans World"), Barnes & Noble (see "Barnes & Noble Expands Game Events to All 640 Stores"), and others. Hastings is a significant retailer of comics and graphic novels, games, and merch.
Weinshanker’s been fishing in those waters, picking up the 42-store MovieStop chain in November of 2014 (see "NECA/WizKids Owner Adds 42 Stores"), and the Movie Gallery assets in 2010 (see "WizKids Parent Buys Retailer Assets"), in addition to Hastings. Now he appears to have made the decision to cut his losses in retail by selling all or part of his largest retail asset. Apparently the pipeline to the consumer for the plethora of licensed products produced by NECA (and WizKids) has proved less lucrative than hoped.
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Post by thwhtguardian on Jun 13, 2016 8:51:03 GMT -5
I've never heard of hastings. The Northeast is one of the few regions they had very little market penetration, so that's not a huge surprise (a quick search of their store locator shows they operate as Movie Stop in New England, with stores in Leominster and North Attleboro in MA and Seekonk in RI). I wasn't aware of them until I started seeing Hastings specific variants for some books and kind of found out about them in a roundabout way, but the closest one to me is in Indiana so I've never been. They seem to be most prevalent in the midwest, Rocky Mountain states and South of the US though. They have it looks like 126 megastores in operation and all would close if they do not receive funding, so pretty much the equivalent of Diamond, Marvel, DC etc. losing 126 stores worth of sales if it happens. They seem to focus mostly on big2 stuff, top sellers, and licensed merch, so it might not hit some of the mid-tier indy or smaller publishers as hard. They also do a lot with toys, action figures and collectibles, so that revenue stream would take a hit fro Diamond and the big2 as well. -M Ah, I remember seeing those but I think the one in North Attleboro(down the street from me) closed a few months back. There used to be more of them when they were a part of Game Stop but when they split off most of them died off, I never knew who bought them but they never had many comics in them here. |
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Post by Batflunkie on Jun 13, 2016 13:49:06 GMT -5
As shitty as it is to see people get laid off and physical books going away in favor of e-books, a huge chink in the armor of Diamond is nothing but good. They have fought off change kicking and screaming at every turn and deserve to be knocked down a few pegs
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2016 14:22:48 GMT -5
There is a Hastings here but I have not been in it for a couple of years. It used to be a very nice, clean, and well-kept store, but the last few times I was there, the store was run-down, dirty, and merchandise was scattered everywhere. They did have a big section in the center of the store with comic themed merchandise, a back issue section and used tpb section, as well as a limited selection of new titles.
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Post by MDG on Jun 13, 2016 15:24:38 GMT -5
Depending if they're in competitive markets, I wonder if there's a bias against big chains by comic fans. When Heroes World stores first opened around the NYC area, they seemed a lot less personal and comfortable than the first stores, that were essentially started by fans for fans.
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Post by Batflunkie on Jun 13, 2016 15:51:13 GMT -5
Depending if they're in competitive markets, I wonder if there's a bias against big chains by comic fans. When Heroes World stores first opened around the NYC area, they seemed a lot less personal and comfortable than the first stores, that were essentially started by fans for fans. Probably because they can smell the dishonest greed on said stores. A lot of people are in this hobby solely for the cheap monitary thrill and that sickens me to no fathomable end. Comics have always made me feel better on an emotional level and I hate to see them turned into a get rich quick scheme by chain stores |
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