Hastings Books Music & Video

When walking in I noticed two things:
Store was cluttered.
Shelves were a mess.
Just looking for one book in particular. When asked, the lady at the help desk was more than willing to help us look… but when I commented about the absolute disarray that the shelves were in her response was pretty much, «Sorry. My manager doesn’t really believe in organizing alphabetically.»
Haha. That’s a great way to boost sales. The fact that you’re sales person was eager to help is the only reason I gave any stars at all.
I don’t know if you’re just undermanned or what, but this experience was just… bad.

I love this place so much it’s almost painful to only give them three stars…
The store is huge and has an amazing selection of used movies and music, new books, a magazine section to rival Barnes and Noble, a great collectibles and gag gift section, tons of pop-​culture merchandise, and even a vinyl section. To top it all off, this is perhaps one of the last honest-​to-​good video rental stores in Houston, offering both new and old DVD rentals, including some relatively obscure older flicks.
This (used to) be THE Houston-​area location for nerds of every stripe to find stuff they never even knew existed, or didn’t think was possible.
But… the place has really gone downhill in the past year and I almost wonder if corporate wants to liquidate it. They’re chronically understaffed, and the in-​store advertisement volume has been jacked up so loudly that you literally can’t hear the person beside you in some parts of the store. (The staff claims that the volume is operated by corporate and they can’t lower it). They’ve also slowly shrunken the size of their old-​stock rentals and I’m afraid they’re falling into Blockbuster’s trap of only emphasizing new releases, when part of the rental section’s appeal was their (once) awesome selection of old and/​or obscure films. On top of that, there’s the general disorderliness and messiness that I’ve seen in other stores in decline.
I really hope conditions improve and I really hope they’re able to go back to the way the store used to be. If not, I really foresee the quick death of a proud local tradition.

I love coming here. I love loading up on cheap, used movies and digging through the mountain of action figures. I like how they sort their displays by interest. And I actually really like the fact that it’s not full of overattentive salesman asking you at every corner if you need help finding anything. I suppose there’s not a single place out there that will be for everyone. But this place is definitely for me.

Such an awesome selection of fun items, movies, books, collectibles, electronics, musical instruments and more. Young staff so you are pretty much on your own unless you tackle someone to get th to help you

I can only speak to a few areas. First books, they have a great selection, not just current best sellers and carry smaller publishers too. Bottom line this bibliophile says thumbs up. The music section is also fantastic. I especially love the used section s and enjoy finding older bands I still like to listen too. Finally the coffee bar is great and much cheaper than starbucks.

First of all the store is good, hence two stars. After that the employees are extremely rude. For instance, I am a disabled vet with dv plates in Texas. If you have these plates it’s an automatic you have a disabled sticker. Can’t have one without the other. So I park in the handicapped and notice a female sitting outside. I came back out noticing my wallet was not in my pocket so went back out to get it. She was out there still again. Someone approached me saying my car was going to be towed that a Hastings employee called to get it towed over hearing a conversation. So I approached a worker in the coffee shop (male) and asked who called and did they understand the value of a disabled veteran plate, what it is I went through to earn those plates. He then said yes dv plates can park there hold on let me get my manager. He opens the door and there was this same female who saw me twice in fact saw me even park there before hand. She had the audacity to not even say anything to me before hand and just be nosey enough to call a tow truck. Of course the tow truck wouldn’t come knowing the dv plate laws but the rudeness and disrespect to a veteran this lady had was astounding. I’ve never felt so disrespected coming home in my life and all because of that situation I will probably never return to Hastings. I will stay at home and order online if I ever need anything from them again.

I come here about once a week and absolutely love it. They have a huge variety of things that will make you spend hours at this store. The coffee they serve there is awesome as well. The only thing I wish they did was ask you for help.

Better than Barns & Nobles! They have a little bit of everything — games, videos, music, toys, books, Café, stationary, etc. My kids didn’t want to leave! What I really liked was that it wasn’t the usual fair — almost seemed like some of the stuff was sourced in Europe/​Japan or other places. I liked that they had used books and a lot of items were available in multiple languages. Great prices! Great place!

I love Hastings. They have a little bit of everything. Nice vinyl section. Kids toys are waay over priced.

If you’re older than 40, you will hate it here. If you’re younger than 40, there’s a good chance you’ll «get it». This place is a mash-​up of Barnes&Noble, Hollywood Video, Hot Topic, and Cactus Records. Love it!

A little cluttered but pretty good prices.

Stopped this morning to buy a magazine. Employees were rude and acted like I was interrupting their social chat. Never again.

I spent almost $ 200 in Dec. 2013 on Cristmas presents. After the kids opened the presents and started to use them, we noticed that almost everything was so cheap that they did not work, or fell apart. The Elvis coffee cup’s lid did not fit. The ukelele did not stay tuned. The TMNT glasses’ design peeled off in the water!!! Luckily, I found my receipt. No more Hastings for me. This was my first time ever shopping there. Dollar store quality…

I’m not sure why people come here. There is a pretty large selection of DVDs and blu rays, new and used. But the prices seem a little high. Its also rather disorganized and hard to find what you are actually look for.

This place is poorly run. Every employee in there seems like some kind of stoner from a smoke shop. It is not a book store like you would expect with a BN or such, There is NO service, NO one who would help you with much of anything.