Hastings Books Music & Video

Damn, why does this place not exist in SoCal? This place is huge! It carries so much stuff that I never knew exists! Yes, everything is MSRP, but it’s worth it to see the products in hand over buying online. It’s also worth buying authentic items with a receipt.
If you’ve got a couple hours to burn, come here and explore!

Hastings is the best movie/​music store I’ve ever been to in my life!!! I go there ALL THE TIME! The employer Joel is the most helpful person ever! I buy all my music there!!! I can’t wait to go back tomorrow!

Okay, this probably sounds silly, but I DESPISE Hasting’s floor plan. The first one I ever went to was in Greeley, Colorado, and I walked straight in after going through the door in order to get to the back where the software was. If you walk straight towards the back in any Hastings, you will get trapped in the central music section, which only has one way in or out. I wish they would put a sign at the entrance to avoid wasted time. Aside from that ridiculous complaint, the store itself is pretty unattractive. It’s a weird hodgepodge of media (books, software, toys, DVDs, video games, bizarre novelties that belong in Hot Topic or Spencers… etc.), all smushed together into a Sam’s-Club-like warehouse.
These two complaints were literally enough to keep me out of Hastings in Colorado, but in Auburn, I have found a renewed appreciation for the place. It has the best DVD rental rates (with a credit back if you return stuff early) and a very respectable selection of foreign and independent films. It is also one of the few places in Auburn where you can see Goth, emo, or punk rock kids out in public. (For the first two months after moving here, I wondered where the «weirdos» were, because everyone dresses the same.)
My tolerance is tested, occasionally, by 14 year old kids making out in the comic book section or the truly geeky staff being a little too nosey about my rental selections, but on the whole, I’d have to say I’m a Hastings convert.