I honestly didn't see this thread since my last post v1c! Thanks for bringing it back to my attention
There has been a European distributor appointed, who is going to have to choose between shipping direct, or choosing a retailer as an outlet for the UK. obviously, they want to have UK representation, so they're looking for a retailer. I've been in touch with them about a couple of products, but at the moment, it's a case of finding enough time to go over everything, which isn't easy when you have a busy email address to keep up to date with, cover three forums (four soon), Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and do all the normal everyday stuff in store. Almost half of my own free time is taken up by forums (I've been on here since I got home), and forum work alone can be a full time job.
But it's not just that. Even if all details are sorted, and we're happy on both sides, we have to make sure we can make the investment work, not just money, but time too. We have to make sure we would have enough room to accommodate all the extra equipment (we've taken on several new brands since last summer), and it might be a case of we would have to market the products at shows too, and possibly supply products for reviews - the list goes on. It's a little easier when a rep calls in, sits down and explains everything, but in this case, it's limited to emails and the odd phone call between the UK and Europe, and I get the impression that the distributor doesn't really know the UK that well as far as how things work.
I suppose the simple thing to say at the moment is that we're looking into it, but there's a LOT to sort out...