...And for any of you that live in a cave, rammed earth shelter or secluded bunker - this is a copy of the open letter from our owner Luis on the SVL m essage board, in the wake of the February '08 fire that totaled our Queen St. store and a number of homes and businesses on the street:

"Is it getting HOT in here? ...or...

If you can't retain a sense of humor in the face of overwhelming loss, then you're not someone I can relate to. My name is Luis. Some of you may know me, some may know me well and others may never have met me, but on Tuesday I was the owner of both Suspect Videos and today I'm the owner of one Suspect Video and about ten tons of charred rubble. As most of you know the Queen Street Suspect was one of the businesses obliterated early Wednesday morning in the six (SIX!) alarm blaze that destroyed most of that block, but amazingly didn't result in any serious injuries. For any of you that saw the footage, it was out of control. Water froze as it hit concrete, or glass, or wood.

Man, those places went up.

I really feel for the people who lost everything in a few short hours: people who lost their homes and their jobs, people who lost labours of love and hard work, and people who have lost

artifacts, many of them irreplaceable. Since that morning I've been immersed in calling, calling and emailing. Friends, suppliers, utilities, alarm companies, phone companies, insurance, etc, etc, etc. And then there is the news media. Answering questions, speculating, waxing philosophic.. there's gotta be a German word for the dissection and multi-angled viewing of the aftermath of a catastrophe (if there is, email us).. but I, and everyone at Suspect have been overwhelmed with the reaction to the loss of our little dusty/dirty emporium of weird, gross, disturbing, sexy, not-so-sexy, awfully beautiful movies, toys, books and miscellaneous ephemera.

Thank you to all.