The quarterly report from regional entertainment retailer Hastings was released this week, and the language was very similar to that in statements by other retail CEOs, including Barnes & Noble CEO Leonard Riggio.  “Beginning with September, changes in consumer spending have created the most difficult retail environment we have ever seen,” Hastings CEO John Marmaduke said of the sales environment in reporting his company’s swing to a substantial loss from a profit in the same quarter last year. 

That sounds a lot like the language used by B&N’s Riggio in an internal memo published by the Wall Street Journal recently.  “Never in all my years as a bookseller have I seen a retail climate as poor as the one we are in,” Riggio said (see “Bookstores Feel the Pain”). 

And just to round out the Apocalypse Now retailing hat trick, let’s include the statement from electronics (and DVD and music) retailer Best Buy when it reported last week.  “Since mid-September, rapid, seismic changes in consumer behavior have created the most difficult climate we've ever seen," Best Buy Chief Executive Brad Anderson said. 

Ok, we get the picture.  Sales in chain stores suck.  But not everybody’s singing the blues.  Although there are regions where comic and game stores are seeing sales declines, others are still booking increases (see, for example, “Interview with Lone Star’s Chris Powell”).  Over-all comic sales to comic stores were also up in October (see “Comics Up 9% Over 2007”).  Community, habit, and value have a chance to win out this holiday season, and comic and game stores may be where that happens.