Hastings - Bankruptcy which means discounted comics

[jerome34]

Anyone living near a Hasting store that is closing?

 

I collect all DC comics and Hastings has had variants of a some

DC's. If someone could visit their local Hastings and get me

one copy of every such DC variant that the store has, I will be

glad to pay a modest premium as well as shipping.

 

The three items I know about are:

Green Lantern 30 <2008> &

Green Lantern Flashpoint <2011>

Star Trek\Legion of Super Heroes 1 <2011>

Others?

 

(I have gotten a copy of the "Flashpoint" item but still need the other

issues.)

 

Incidentally, there are about 15-20 stores that have had DC make

a store specific version on selected DC issues (often FCBD items)

and I am missing a bunch of these. For a store example: "Midtown"

in New York City.

 

While there are a few items where I have gotten all such

"store specific" comics, there are a lot that I do not and for

most of them, I do not have complete lists of what such items exist.

 

Items where I have all "store specific" versions are:

New 52 Futures End 0 <2013>

SM: Last Son of Krypton 1 <201>

 

Items where I have some (but I am sure not all) of the "store specific" items

include:

Adventures of SM 443 <1988> (Malls rather than stores)

Batman: Ten Cent Adventure <2002>

Divergence 1 <2015>

New 52 1 <2012>

Suicide Squad 1 FCBD <2016>

Superman: The Ten Cent Adventure <2003>

 

While such items are hard to find, the number of people interested

in them is even harder to find so the prices remain low.

 

Then there are the "convention specific" items - more than 100 of these.

 

And you think that collecting all the "new 52" variants was impossibly crazy?

(The pre-"New 52" variant list is well over 2,000 items going back to 1936.)

 

 

[NP_Gresham]

More details here

 

This is a pretty big blow to our industry

Could be good for the hobby though. This thing unwinds slowly or crashes mightily. I hope this starts a slow unwinding of the hype machine.

[dupont2005]

Long term I think it's definitely going to be a good thing for the hobby, but in the meanwhile might have some significant downsides.

[Buzzetta]

No Hastings in NY

 

[Aweandlorder]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

[Mmehdy]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

 

 

The trend is to go digital in comics, I have seen a lot of people reading them on there I pad...the trend is to close bookstores as kindle and other devices are taking over.

[PKJ]

I would be surprised if Hastings did not have a return credit in their contract for every publisher/supplier. That said it would mean that they had returned for credit all they could and still were in debt for outstanding invoices.

[Buzzetta]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

 

 

The trend is to go digital in comics, I have seen a lot of people reading them on there I pad...the trend is to close bookstores as kindle and other devices are taking over.

 

iPad all the way.

[PKJ]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

 

 

The trend is to go digital in comics, I have seen a lot of people reading them on there I pad...the trend is to close bookstores as kindle and other devices are taking over.

 

Kindle and device saturation has actually peaked and dropped back down in publishing the past couple of years, that does not mean that the damage is done to print runs in the overall publishing business. Much has changed in the past 7 years.

[500Club]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

This isn't a comic market story, or an indictment of the state of the market. The comic section in a Hastings is about 1/20th of floor space.

 

The great majority of Hastings' business is book and magazine sales, and movie sales and rentals. As seen with Blockbuster, B&N, and Best Buy, these are retail segments that are being hammered in the secular shift to internet retail and digital content.

[rjrjr]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

 

 

The trend is to go digital in comics, I have seen a lot of people reading them on there I pad...the trend is to close bookstores as kindle and other devices are taking over.

 

But that isn't happening with comics. Digital sales growth has slowed way, way down for comic books.

[BarryAllen]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

 

 

The trend is to go digital in comics, I have seen a lot of people reading them on there I pad...the trend is to close bookstores as kindle and other devices are taking over.

 

iPad Pro all the way.

 

FIFY

[BarryAllen]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

 

 

The trend is to go digital in comics, I have seen a lot of people reading them on there I pad...the trend is to close bookstores as kindle and other devices are taking over.

 

But that isn't happening with comics. Digital sales growth has slowed way, way down for comic books.

 

Where are you getting that data? As far as I know, Digital sales are not shared...

[ChrisInBaltimore]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

 

 

The trend is to go digital in comics, I have seen a lot of people reading them on there I pad...the trend is to close bookstores as kindle and other devices are taking over.

 

But that isn't happening with comics. Digital sales growth has slowed way, way down for comic books.

 

And regular books. I'll try to dig it up, but I read an article about how most people have turned away from ebooks.

 

Edit: not as extreme as I'd thought:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/may/13/printed-book-sales-ebooks-decline

 

2nd Edit:

 

Here is an article on printed comics and their rise in sales:

 

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/05/comic-books-buck-trend-as-print-and-digital-sales-flourish.html

[Aweandlorder]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

This isn't a comic market story, or an indictment of the state of the market. The comic section in a Hastings is about 1/20th of floor space.

 

The great majority of Hastings' business is book and magazine sales, and movie sales and rentals. As seen with Blockbuster, B&N, and Best Buy, these are retail segments that are being hammered in the secular shift to internet retail and digital content.

 

A major book retailer owing Diamond 1.6 mil while filling for bankruptcy IS a comic market story any way you slice it

[techtre2003]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

This isn't a comic market story, or an indictment of the state of the market. The comic section in a Hastings is about 1/20th of floor space.

 

The great majority of Hastings' business is book and magazine sales, and movie sales and rentals. As seen with Blockbuster, B&N, and Best Buy, these are retail segments that are being hammered in the secular shift to internet retail and digital content.

 

This is what I was thinking. I've only been to one Hastings so maybe the others are different but this one was more like a big book store with a very small comic section.

[rjrjr]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

 

 

The trend is to go digital in comics, I have seen a lot of people reading them on there I pad...the trend is to close bookstores as kindle and other devices are taking over.

 

But that isn't happening with comics. Digital sales growth has slowed way, way down for comic books.

 

Where are you getting that data? As far as I know, Digital sales are not shared...

 

ICv2 publishes overall numbers. I've posted the links every so often concerning this whenever this false notion that digital sales are going to overtake non-digital sales. Digital sales are about 20% of non-digital sales and is growing less than 10% a year now. Let me see if I can dig up the information again.

[500Club]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

This isn't a comic market story, or an indictment of the state of the market. The comic section in a Hastings is about 1/20th of floor space.

 

The great majority of Hastings' business is book and magazine sales, and movie sales and rentals. As seen with Blockbuster, B&N, and Best Buy, these are retail segments that are being hammered in the secular shift to internet retail and digital content.

 

A major book retailer owing Diamond 1.6 mil while filling for bankruptcy IS a comic market story any way you slice it

Not the way you're slicing it. You're slicing it as a implication that there may be other stores in similar trouble, extrapolating Hastings' financial troubles to other Diamond accounts.

 

The ONLY way it's a comic market story is if Diamond is damaged by the revenue shortfall. It won't be. Hastings will find a buyer, who will pay Diamond, or Hastings won't find a buyer, liquidate assets, and Diamond will be paid some, if not all, of the money.

[500Club]

Actually, I should maybe revise my comments.

 

The part of this that unfortunately is a comic market story is the fact that if Hastings goes down, many areas will lose their de facto LCSs. Most Hastings are in small 30-100K cities, many without true LCSs. From what I've seen over the last three years, just from judging rack sell through patterns, is that Hastings has likely cultivated new collectors in these areas. I'd hate to see the market lose them.

[Aweandlorder]

Again, the bigger picture here is how many Diamond accounts report similar proportional debt?

If this is just a large store that made some bad financial decisions than it really isnt a big deal. But if its a sign of more to follow, then some sort of correction may be forming

This isn't a comic market story, or an indictment of the state of the market. The comic section in a Hastings is about 1/20th of floor space.

 

The great majority of Hastings' business is book and magazine sales, and movie sales and rentals. As seen with Blockbuster, B&N, and Best Buy, these are retail segments that are being hammered in the secular shift to internet retail and digital content.

 

A major book retailer owing Diamond 1.6 mil while filling for bankruptcy IS a comic market story any way you slice it

Not the way you're slicing it. You're slicing it as a implication that there may be other stores in similar trouble, extrapolating Hastings' financial troubles to other Diamond accounts.

 

The ONLY way it's a comic market story is if Diamond is damaged by the revenue shortfall. It won't be. Hastings will find a buyer, who will pay Diamond, or Hastings won't find a buyer, liquidate assets, and Diamond will be paid some, if not all, of the money.

 

OK, forget Hastings.

Lets try this:

A REPUTABLE retailer owes Diamond, the ONLY comic book distributor nationwide, 1.6 million dollars. Forget that the store is out of business, thats not the issue here.

Its the capital loss, the state of the market, and the business model of which said store used which reflects on the result.

Thats not one slice, thats a whole damn apple