And when I got up here, that's what everyone here knew: that the store was going to move, that they needed to be out of the space by the end of March, and that the corporate office was in the process of finding a new location. Well, corporate kind of just kept jerking us around with, "Oh, we're still looking," and blah blah blah. By the time I left at the beginning of November they still had not found a location. And I don't know if it's obvious to anyone else but . . . moving an entire retail store (a pretty big store too) as well as making sure all the connections to corporate are set up is kind of a big undertaking--not really something you can do overnight. So of course the speculation that the store might actually be closing started among the staff. At the time I left the official answer was still a move.
Then this evening I was reading the AZ Daily Sun online, and sure enough, there it was: an article officially announcing that Hastings 9816 will be permanently closing on March 15th. The reason listed by the paper was just that the lease was up on the building (which is obviously not what's actually going on).
We were told not to say anything about the real reason, so I'm not going to here (just in case).
At any rate, though, I can say that based on the real reason, corporate had two options: move the store or close the store. And at the end of the day, between the abysmal sales, the pathetic staff, the dissatisfied customers, and the overall complete dysfunction of the store made them decide that it would be a waste to invest the time and money in moving and opted for closing. (Honestly, if the store wasn't closing now, my guess is that it would have closed by the end of this year anyway).
Obviously, I'm not sad. I'm actually pretty happy. I feel very vindicated as far as how I ended up leaving and all that, because I feel like this basically says, see? You can't run a store that poorly and treat your employees that badly and still stay in business. Because it all comes back to how the store was being run, in my opinion.
Yes, the decision is a financial one, and yes, sales were way down most days I was there. But that's to be expected--when you have Redbox and Netflix for movies and TV, iTunes and other services like that for music, and Kindle and Nook and all those for books (not to mention all the illegal download stuff) it's hard to keep customers. Personally, I think that in an environment that's that competitive, where the customer can pretty much do everything on their own, the only reason they're gong to prefer an actual in store experience is if they really love the environment of the store and the attitudes/personalities/knowledge of the employees. And when your employees are all assholes who don't know shit about the job, and the store feels nothing but chaotic and messy and disorganized . . . well, then there's zero incentive for the customer to choose the store over all their other options. And that's what bit these guys in the ass.
It's kind of a vicious cycle: the store and employees aren't well liked by the customer . . . customers stop returning and sales drop . . . drop in sales leads to cutting hours all over and fewer workers in the store at any given time . . . lowered workforce only makes the initial problems worse because then work is never done properly and stocking and cleaning fall behind and when a customer does need help, they have to wait . . . if someone does help them there's a good chance they don't know what they're doing because there aren't enough hours to actually train people on the sales floor.
I think Hastings could still be successful in Flag if it bought a much, much smaller space and became strictly a movie and game rental place. Because Hastings is(was) the ONLY rental place in town anymore aside from Redbox kiosks. We used to have a Hollywood Video, a Blockbuster, and an indie rental place, but they've all been closed for years. A huge chunk of this store's sales was from rental because it was the only thing there's really no competition for in town (we have a bunch of indie music stores, 2 or 3 Game Stops, 2 RadioShacks and a Best Buy, Barnes and Noble, a comic book store, and a Spencers and a Hot Topic that carry most of the same novelty items Hastings did).
(Meanwhile, the Kingman Hastings, while sales are down (sales are down across the company, really, which isn't surprising) will probably never actually go out of business, because aside from the online stuff, there's no competition for them in Kingman).
I am a little sad. I'm sad that there won't be a rental place anymore, and I did have some good times at the store here--back in college, at least. Jenny and I both did, and we made some good friends and got up to quite a bit of mischief around that place. It wasn't the best place to work even in college, but I'm appalled at how far down hill it went in the time between then and when I worked there last year. And there were a few co-workers I actually liked and thought were decent people and I hope that they're all able to find new jobs quickly. (But honestly, they all barely did better than me in the hours department so I'm sure that whatever work they do find will be a step up for them).
I'm glad I got out when I did. I remember thinking in November that I was such an idiot for just quitting the way I did and being so worried that I'd done the wrong thing--but now more than ever I feel like I definitely made the best choice, because not only did I find a killer new job that I'm really loving, but I also escaped the stress of having to worry about finding a new job and all that when the store closed. I almost feel "I told you so" about it, because I came up here doing everything right per corporate standards, the way I was trained, and I was basically hated for it. My co-workers were like lol, look at this idiot actually doing her job and not cutting all the corners. And now . . . they're out of a job! And in my head I'm like, I tried.
It's sad because this store had a lot of potential. It had a great location close to campus and if it had been managed better I think it could have done SO well. But it seems, at the same time, like it was destined to fail, because something about it just always felt off. This store just never had the same sense of work ethic as the Kingman store or other ones I've been to (the downside of living in a college town: lots of college student employees who don't actually give a shit about the job). And whenever there was a manager there who actually tried to make people work and do their jobs correctly, the staff would make them so miserable with their assholeishness about it that the manager would end up leaving (I saw this happen to 2 managers and I don't blame them at all for leaving). It's so sad. It's so stupid. Especially considering that in an economy where a lot of people need jobs very badly you could probably be picky and hire a really great crew.
Oh well. All those suggestions are too late now. I wish some of them the best and most of them not the best. (I have no desire to be the bigger person when it comes to that place).
I'm definitely going to hit up the going out of business sale because why not? Plus . . . ok, I haven't been in Hastings since I quit, because I hate it there and just didn't want to go in. But I feel like now that they're all about to lose their jobs and I'm in a really good work position . . . I'll mind less going in. Good lord, that makes me sound like a horrible, horrible person, but it's true! After what I said when I left about the store being so unprofessional it would have been a little embarrassing to go in and potentially have to admit that I was still unemployed . . . but now I look better than them in comparison. (I swear I'm actually a good person . . . I just hate that place and the people there so, so much). Most of them treated me like complete shit and acted like I was a moron when I actually knew more about the company than they did, and it's really just a wonderful feeling to see such misplaced arrogance cut down. I definitely don't want to go in and rub it in their faces that I'm doing well Hastings free, but I feel like I earned the right to go in and shop and silently gloat. (I got fucking keys thrown at me by a manager when I worked there, so I earned it!)
Anyway. So that's that. So long, Hastings 9816.
Yes, the decision is a financial one, and yes, sales were way down most days I was there. But that's to be expected--when you have Redbox and Netflix for movies and TV, iTunes and other services like that for music, and Kindle and Nook and all those for books (not to mention all the illegal download stuff) it's hard to keep customers. Personally, I think that in an environment that's that competitive, where the customer can pretty much do everything on their own, the only reason they're gong to prefer an actual in store experience is if they really love the environment of the store and the attitudes/personalities/knowledge of the employees. And when your employees are all assholes who don't know shit about the job, and the store feels nothing but chaotic and messy and disorganized . . . well, then there's zero incentive for the customer to choose the store over all their other options. And that's what bit these guys in the ass.
It's kind of a vicious cycle: the store and employees aren't well liked by the customer . . . customers stop returning and sales drop . . . drop in sales leads to cutting hours all over and fewer workers in the store at any given time . . . lowered workforce only makes the initial problems worse because then work is never done properly and stocking and cleaning fall behind and when a customer does need help, they have to wait . . . if someone does help them there's a good chance they don't know what they're doing because there aren't enough hours to actually train people on the sales floor.
I think Hastings could still be successful in Flag if it bought a much, much smaller space and became strictly a movie and game rental place. Because Hastings is(was) the ONLY rental place in town anymore aside from Redbox kiosks. We used to have a Hollywood Video, a Blockbuster, and an indie rental place, but they've all been closed for years. A huge chunk of this store's sales was from rental because it was the only thing there's really no competition for in town (we have a bunch of indie music stores, 2 or 3 Game Stops, 2 RadioShacks and a Best Buy, Barnes and Noble, a comic book store, and a Spencers and a Hot Topic that carry most of the same novelty items Hastings did).
(Meanwhile, the Kingman Hastings, while sales are down (sales are down across the company, really, which isn't surprising) will probably never actually go out of business, because aside from the online stuff, there's no competition for them in Kingman).
I am a little sad. I'm sad that there won't be a rental place anymore, and I did have some good times at the store here--back in college, at least. Jenny and I both did, and we made some good friends and got up to quite a bit of mischief around that place. It wasn't the best place to work even in college, but I'm appalled at how far down hill it went in the time between then and when I worked there last year. And there were a few co-workers I actually liked and thought were decent people and I hope that they're all able to find new jobs quickly. (But honestly, they all barely did better than me in the hours department so I'm sure that whatever work they do find will be a step up for them).
I'm glad I got out when I did. I remember thinking in November that I was such an idiot for just quitting the way I did and being so worried that I'd done the wrong thing--but now more than ever I feel like I definitely made the best choice, because not only did I find a killer new job that I'm really loving, but I also escaped the stress of having to worry about finding a new job and all that when the store closed. I almost feel "I told you so" about it, because I came up here doing everything right per corporate standards, the way I was trained, and I was basically hated for it. My co-workers were like lol, look at this idiot actually doing her job and not cutting all the corners. And now . . . they're out of a job! And in my head I'm like, I tried.
It's sad because this store had a lot of potential. It had a great location close to campus and if it had been managed better I think it could have done SO well. But it seems, at the same time, like it was destined to fail, because something about it just always felt off. This store just never had the same sense of work ethic as the Kingman store or other ones I've been to (the downside of living in a college town: lots of college student employees who don't actually give a shit about the job). And whenever there was a manager there who actually tried to make people work and do their jobs correctly, the staff would make them so miserable with their assholeishness about it that the manager would end up leaving (I saw this happen to 2 managers and I don't blame them at all for leaving). It's so sad. It's so stupid. Especially considering that in an economy where a lot of people need jobs very badly you could probably be picky and hire a really great crew.
Oh well. All those suggestions are too late now. I wish some of them the best and most of them not the best. (I have no desire to be the bigger person when it comes to that place).
I'm definitely going to hit up the going out of business sale because why not? Plus . . . ok, I haven't been in Hastings since I quit, because I hate it there and just didn't want to go in. But I feel like now that they're all about to lose their jobs and I'm in a really good work position . . . I'll mind less going in. Good lord, that makes me sound like a horrible, horrible person, but it's true! After what I said when I left about the store being so unprofessional it would have been a little embarrassing to go in and potentially have to admit that I was still unemployed . . . but now I look better than them in comparison. (I swear I'm actually a good person . . . I just hate that place and the people there so, so much). Most of them treated me like complete shit and acted like I was a moron when I actually knew more about the company than they did, and it's really just a wonderful feeling to see such misplaced arrogance cut down. I definitely don't want to go in and rub it in their faces that I'm doing well Hastings free, but I feel like I earned the right to go in and shop and silently gloat. (I got fucking keys thrown at me by a manager when I worked there, so I earned it!)
Anyway. So that's that. So long, Hastings 9816.
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