Hastings Video Store in Tyler

March 26th, 2010

Hastings

www.gohastings.com

4015 S Broadway Ave
Tyler, TX 75701-8727
(903) 534-9278

Hastings parking lot maybe an awesome hang out for the East Texas teenagers, but I think that there are more people in the parking lot than in the store. The store does have a great variety of books, movies, music, and video games. This store is probably the dirtiest store in East Texas. I feel like I have to take a bath after renting a movie. The well known store may be struggling to stay in business.

As I try to find the door through the clouds of smoke from the teenagers hanging out side the door, I already know that I really want to get a movie and leave as fast as you can. You can dig through the towers in the aisle to find cheap movies to buy. “Buy two get the third for a penny.” They have great deals for movies on sale and as the world of electronics grows to the newest level; Hastings is starting to sale and rent movies on Blue Ray.

Hastings lack of convenience may be the thing that puts them out of business. Although you can shop online for movies and music and much more, you have to return to the store. The great thing about the competing rental companies, such as Red Box and Netflix, is that they are convenient to your every day life.

The odd and, many times, unhelpful people that work at Hastings add to the frustration of the shopping experience. The oddly disturbing action figures and adult board games makes me rush out the store with my hands over my eyes.

Although you can find most music, movies and books, I would look everywhere in Tyler before I endure the torture of shopping in Hastings. The good thing about the store is that they buy those old movies and CDs that have been sitting on your shelf just collecting dust and taking up space.

Hastings is my “last stop store”; if I can not find a movie I have been wanting to watch for months in Red Box, or the dollar rental machine at Brookshires, or if it is not at the other failing rental store, Blockbuster, I go to Hastings, then I go home and take a bath until I can not smell the stink of the store in my hair.

Tags: 9278, Action Figures, Adult Board Games, Aisle, blockbuster, Blue Ray, Books Movies Music, Broadway Ave, brookshires, Clouds Of Smoke, Collecting Dust, East Texas, Frustration, Hastings, Hastings Video, Netflix, Parking Lot, redbox, Shopping Experience, Shopping In Hastings, Taking Up Space, Tyler TX, video, Video Store
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Times Have Changed, But Timeless Hasn’t… At Least Not Much

January 12th, 2010

In the nineteen nineties a group of friends and I established “Timeless Books and Music” as our second residence. We passed hours on the store’s floor and in its couches sifting through everything from classics to nineteen forties and fifties science fiction. The owner at the time became familiar with our tastes and would set aside books he knew would be of interest to us. As a result, my library contains some obscure but semi-valuable editions I would otherwise never have found. In those days the primary but not exclusive, literature to be found in the store was fiction from the first few decades of the turn of the century. There was a smattering of religion and history, and as I said classics, but the old dime back fiction was the order of the day. We’d find old Lewis and Lovecraft, Fritz Lieber and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

There was music for sale in those days as well. In fact if I were to walk through the music section today, I would probably find items we dropped off in trade for some form of reading material.

Today, Timeless has a new owner, but the same location on Broadway next to Hastings. And while the genre of books has changed, the store still keeps a steady flow of customers. The literature offered has broadened in terms of appeal. There are all kinds of mostly newer fiction. Timeless carries many of the same titles one might find in a bigger chain, but at used bookstore prices. The music section has grown considerably since I last visited too. If you’re looking for old vinyl or cassette tapes, Timeless is probably your best bet in Tyler.

Truth be told, things have changed a lot since I used to visit all those years ago. I no longer spend my entire afternoon haunting the shelves of the bookstore, nor do I tend to skip meals in order to buy books, (although that wouldn’t kill me either), but if you’re looking for some good beach reading this summer, you can still find it at Timeless Books and Music. Located at 4129 S Broadway in Tyler Texas.

Tags: All Those Years Ago, Best Bet, Bookstore Prices, Cassette Tapes, Couches, F Scott Fitzgerald, Fifties, Forties, Fritz Lieber, Hastings, Lovecraft, Music Section, Nineties, Reading Material, Shelves, Sifting Through, Smattering, Steady Flow, Timeless Books, Timeless Books and Music, Turn Of The Century, Tyler Texas Book Stores, used bookstore in Tyler Texas
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Hastings

January 8th, 2010

The stereotypically flickering fluorescent lights, the green and off white walls worn down in places that are inexplicably nowhere near any sort of regular physical contact, the pathetic, but diverse for this part of Texas, music collection. Yes, if you’ve been to Hastings in Tyler and didn’t subconsciously block the experience from your memory already you will recognize the picture I’m painting for you. As one of the only places in Tyler you can get dirty, dirty porno magazines and almost every Tool album, you can be sure that Hastings is attracting just enough disgusting rednecks to keep it’s vital signs moving.

Now I don’t want to be too hard on them, I mean on occasion they do have a blue ray copy of Labyrinth that no one else has. How am I supposed to role play with David Bowie without the power of gentle blue ocean birds? But as we all have come to learn, staying just above the level of tolerance in any venture, life or business, is a sure fire way to leave you trapped in east Texas evangelical hell forever… or in a dying and vulnerable business. This attitude will poison your entire business, for example, if employees are paid exactly minimum wage until the government forces you to pay them more, then you shouldn’t wonder why they aren’t mopping the walls or neon lights, those aren’t even things you should mop, but God knows you demand it of them.

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Look Hastings, it’s not too late to redeem yourself. I realize I was a little critical of your appearance earlier and that I essentially called you redneck bait. But it could all go away with the help of just one person; one simple hiring of someone with a decent taste in music and movies, or even a current taste in music and movies would be the completely obvious initiative needed to keep you afloat a little longer. Like meth to your white trash excuse for an entertainment business. Try the teenagers they seem pretty hip.

Tags: Blue Ocean, Blue Ray, David Bowie, Decent Taste, East Texas, Hastings, Meth, Minimum Wage, Music Collection, Neon Lights, Ocean Birds, Porno Magazines, Redneck, Rednecks, Role Play, Texas Music, Tool Album, Tyler Texas Hastings, Tyler TX Hastings, Vital Signs, White Trash, White Walls
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