THROWBACK THURSDAY: The Hangout Spot Known as ‘Hastings’

Hastings holds so many memories for so many of us in the Victoria area! I know that times have changed and the term video store is obsolete. However, Hastings was so much more than a video store, it was also: a bookstore, a comic book store, a game store,  a coffee shop, an anime stop, and you could even get an instrument there.

. I remember Hastings being in three different locations. Please let me know if I am wrong.  The first location was where is the 'party' store is located today.  I still can remember buying those cassette singles and buying those CDs that came in those long box cases.  Does anyone actually still have any of these?

THE SECOND LOCATION:

The second and what I consider the most iconic Hastings location in Victoria was where SPECS stands today.  I know we had Camelot and Disk Jockey in the mall which I also frequented for new music. We also had the Movie Shoppe and Video Gallery alongside all those other National Video rental stores to rent our favorite movies.  Hastings, however, brought us the best music, video rentals, and books in one location.  I mean this location was poppin' on Weekend nights back in the day.

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THE THIRD AND FINAL LOCATION:

This one still is probably pretty fresh in a lot of our minds. This was a more laid-back and roomier version of the second location.  They even added a little coffee shop to adapt to the times.  They officially closed their doors for good back in February of 2018, this one still hurts a little bit.  I will say a big thank you to Hastings for allowing me to rent movies while paying down my fines.  They were the first to offer this in Victoria.  I know the culture of this kind of store is dead today but that doesn't mean we can't miss the good ole days.