UK shops in general are difficult, sometimes not due to the buyers, mainly due to the customer base they have. the random variables being - records available, buyers knowledge/amiability, customer base buying tendencies. if any of these hiccup at all you end up with a shit shop.
theres clearly plenty of records out there, some of the buyers/sellers in shops could sort it out but they have far too much of their own agenda, and the customer base in this country invariably lets them down. all reports back say that despite the fact that most of the time the buyers are loving what i'm playing them, they dont have the buyers for it, and have to steer the sales towards the obvious/mainstream.
but you cant blame the customers when smetimes they want to buy that extremely weird 12" for one track but its £8.99, thats a killer.