This is pretty much how I feel about it. I've been in some of these chain stores and I always feel like they'd prefer it if I would just buy quickly and go away without having to actually interact with me. As well, the ones I've been in don't have any sort of back issues, instead pushing the brand-new stuff, especially TPBs, which by and large don't appeal to me.

At my LCS, I feel like I can go in and hang out, whether I'm buying 1 book, 10 books, or 0 books. I know the owner and the employees personally, like the names of their wives and kids and what their favorite books, writers, and artists are, and they know my wife's and kids' names as well as what books, writers, and artists I like and don't like. They know I hate Rick Jones and Deadpool but love Captain America, Tomb of Dracula, and Thor, prefer Marvel to DC, prefer Bronze Age to Silver Age, and they will let me look through new collections they've purchased before they hit the shelves if there are books in there that are in my sweet spot for collecting. In short, they don't treat me like a customer, they treat me like a friend.

Like others have said, it's purely a regional occurance. We have things down here in the south that I'm sure you guys don't. There was this local kid's fun play-place called "Blue Rabbit" or something. It was supposed to eventually become a huge chain like Showbiz Pizza, Discovery Zone, or Chuck E. Cheese, but something happened, not quite sure what. But Blue Rabbit vanished and got renamed "pete's party castle"

The internet happened.  There are a few Hastings' in Idaho.  The closest one in Twin Falls.  When they opened up they were huge in renting DVDs and had a really large book section.  Between Netflix and Amazon there goes a substantial part of their business.  

I'll vouch for that 100%. Best store I've ever been to, period.

Ooops, when I was in college Seekonk was a running joke among my coworkers at the theatre and I-there was a branch of our theatre there and everyone employed there lived in RI and we always mixed up if it was a RI or Mass location, and it stuck with me some 25+ years later I guess

-M

According to news reports today, Hastings has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (that's the reorganization one, not the killer one), but has suspended several programs as they weigh options for the future-they have ended rentals, buyback, preorders, and cannot guarantee deposits for pre-ordered future releases already received can be honored for those items (they may not get them in) so are converting those deposits to be valid for in-store purchases of current merchandise (bit not refunding them). They are also setting all current Hastings gift cards to expire on July 13, so if you have one you need to use it before then or it will no longer be valid.

All this is pretty much SOP for companies undergoing Chapter 11 (I've seen it firsthand with 2 retail companies I worked for when I was younger), some companies can emerge form it, some do not (neither company I worked for was able to emerge and both closed shortly after their reorganization attempts failed-within a year both times). Currently the future of stores in undecided, but closing smaller volume, less profitable branches as part of the reorganization attempt is not uncommon, so you may see store closing announcements soon.

Such organizations usually included scaling back inventory purchases and eliminating less profitable lines of products, so it's likely their orders with Diamond will be scales back (no more ordering up to variant buy ins, no more buying for future sales only for what is turned around in a short window before the next issue comes out, etc.), fewer high end collectibles (statues, deluxe action figures, etc.) with longer turn around times and large risks of tying up capital in too much stock if it doesn't sell, etc. so even without closing this will mean Diamond and the comics companies will take some kind of hit in their revenue stream in the short term (possibly leading to a bigger hit in the future).

-M

Yeah, there's a few of us in this area... I know Crimebuster is not too far (he's close enough to have swapped stories about That's ENtertainment in Worcester), and someone else too, though I can't recal who.