Suspect Video, landmark Toronto film rental store, closes for good

Suspect Video and Culture, known as one of the last remaining video rental stores in Toronto, closed its doors for good after 25 years on Friday night.

Film buffs gathered in the shop one last time to celebrate the years they havespent scouring the shelves,hoping for one last find.

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Melanie Turner, a longtime customer of Suspect Video, said it was the end of an era.

"Seeing this store close, you could find movies here you couldn't find anywhere else," Turner said.

Many of the visitors on the last day have been regular customers for years.The small store brought together curious first-timers in the Annex and a loyal community of Toronto residentswho shared a love for film, comics and obscure television shows.

Brad Brackenridge, another longtimecustomer, said he has visited Suspect Video for all 25 years of its existence at times even filling in for a few shifts at the checkout desk and called the closing of the store "bittersweet."

"It's a place for alternative culture," he said."The staff are all knowledgeable."

Brackenridge said the staff had "encyclopedic knowledge of all the strange and wonderful films."

In the store, he said there was "stuff here that you will never, ever get again. Netflix and those places it's not happening."

New plans for Mirvish Village

Suspect Video is the latest in a line of businesses that are closing shop at the end of January in Mirvish Village.

Honest Ed's, the landmark retail store on Bloorand Bathurst Streets, was the first major business in the neighbourhood to turn off its lights at the end of 2016, after nearly 70 years of business.

The closures stem from major redevelopment that is plannedfor Mirvish Village. Anew condominium complex, along with commercial space, isexpected to replace large sections of Markham Street.

The leases for an estimated 70 tenants in the area expire on January 31 and theywill be evicted to make way for the expected projects.

"[Mirvish Village] is yet another invaluable resource that is dwindling in Toronto...it's really a shame," Brackenridge said.

More than video rentals

By Friday, the shelves that were usually packed with magazines and movies were barren. Most of it had been sold in the months afterthe store announced its closure.

Luiz Ceriz, owner of Suspect Video, said he was ready to say goodbye after more than two decades of business, but he will miss the friendships that have developed in the store. He saidthose relationshipsamountto more than the number of titles they havecollected over the years.

"It's not just people coming in, buying and leaving," Ceriz said.

"They come in and chat with us about what they like and what they didn't likeand why. And we'll throw in our two cents it's a dialogue."

Patrons of the store saidwhile streaming services, such as Netflix, make films more accessible, the romance of finding an unknown film and talking about it with friends is being lost as video rental stores disappear.

The days of digging through titlesto unearth a hard-to-find cult classic or cheesy B movie has largely been rendered as a relic of the past, they said.

Cerizsaid onmany occasions"we've introduced people to genres or filmmakers that they may not have had before. And vice versa."

The bricks and mortar of Suspect Video will be demolished soon but some form of it will live on. The owners are planning to recreate a web store under Suspect Video'sname in the coming weeks.