RETAIL FOCUS: 45s.

Although turnover is up on the previous year's trading, 45s partner Chris Manna reports that is becoming harder than ever to sustain decent levels of profitability. The indie store has been in its current location just off Gloucester's main high Street for the past three years and was recently dealt a blow when Sainsbury's opened opposite.

"As a result we have had to drop all our chart albums to 9.99 [pounds sterling]," says Manna. "The only way we can afford to offer CDs at these prices is to source them from importers after the first couple of weeks of release. You are talking about a difference in dealer price of between 6.99 [pounds sterling] and 8.40 [pounds sterling]."

A problem for Manna is that dealer prices have gone up but discount deals have remained the same and he feels that indie stores get very little support from the major record companies these days.

"When it comes to major label product, it gets sold in blind," he says. "The only reps we see are those from companies such as Vital, Pinnacle and SRD, all of whom are very good."

Fortunately 45s does not rely on mainstream releases for sales and the most important part of its business is dance music. Garage and hip hop are both booming locally and Manna reports that dance 12-inches account for more than 50% of turnover, followed by T-shirts and CDs.

"When it comes to garage, people around here tend to favour breakbeat rather than the vocal stuff," says Manna. "House music is not at all popular and indie music has been a no-go area for some time."

This week 45s has seen ...