• Customized inventory in multiple entertainment formats, including about 40,000 book titles, 20,000 music selections, 6,000 videocassettes and video games, 800 DVD-format titles, 2,000 periodicals, 1,500 software titles, and 1,500 complementary products, including clothing, greeting cards and stationery products, for sale at discounted prices;
• Over 15,000 videocassettes, video games and DVDs available for rent;
• Extensive children’s product section, including free rentals on children’s videos and regular StoryTime;
• Financial commitment to the literacy campaign in the local community;
• Employment for about 45 to 50 associates, primarily from the Rocky Mount area.

Founded in 1968, the company has steadily and profitably built its store base to 132 superstores that are located primarily in small to medium-sized markets in 20 states across the country.. Each Hastings store averages 21,200 square feet, for a total of almost 2.8 million square feet of retail space under lease. The company plans to have about 170 superstores open by the end of fiscal 2000.

"Each superstore offers our customers a wide range of entertainment products in a single location, whether they are browsing for a special book, sampling the latest music in the broad genre offering, selecting a current periodical or simply searching for a rental video for a comfortable evening at home," said John H. Marmaduke, chairman and chief executive officer. "We are proud to now offer our entertainment products coast-to-coast."

Hastings stores are designed to be fun and informative gathering places for customers to shop, offering such amenities as free gourmet coffee, comfortable chairs for reading, CD listening stations, video game preview stations, interactive information kiosks, telephones for free local calls, children’s play areas and in-store promotional events.