Supermarkets eat into indies market; survey confirms supermarkets' rise as another indie retailer closes.(Retail)

Renowned indie retailer Massive Records fell into administration last week, just as a new study further underlined the tightening grip of the supermarkets on the CD market.

The owner of the Oxford-based store, which won the Independent Retailer Of The Year gong at the 2003 Music Week Awards, blamed a declining vinyl market and tough trading conditions.

"As a dance vinyl specialist store, the market decreased so drastically in the past year that it is impossible to afford the ever rising rent in our prime locations," says owner Joanna Massive.

The company's Birmingham outlet has already closed, although the Oxford store remains open, with a sale of existing stock due to Lake place. The company's directors will continue to run their Dynamic Distribution and Massive Digital Companies.

News of the closure came as statistics from market information provider TNS Worldpanel revealed that supermarkets now account for 24.9% of CDs sold in the UK by volume, up from 21.9% a year ago and 14.0% in 2002. This compares with 19.0% of all clothing and footwear, 12.2% of computer gaines and 11.9% of books and represents a total value of 519m[pounds sterling].

The figures, published a week after the All-Party Parliamentary Small Shops Group warned over the supermarkets' increased dominance of the retail sector, are representative of a general trend that has seen sales of non-food products in UK supermarkets almost double in the past five years, growing 94% compared to overall market growth of 11%.

"The supermarkets look set to continue in their quest to take more of our spend away from high street and specialist retailers," says TNS Worldpanel research manager Lucy Burton. "After five years of sustained share growth in the entertainment sectors, supermarkets have become ...