The Amdis discount warehouse in Basingstoke this week hung up the closed sign as the Mintel research company published figures showing how purchasing power was drifting into the hands of the loners, over six million people who live without partners, but nonetheless spend more on groceries than the more fulfilled twosomes. Is there a connection? The warehouse club concept now has one main supporter, Costco, which continues with the hybrid solution of serving retailers and professional business people who in another context might be called consumers. Cargo, the Nurdin experiment, when rejected, did much to dampen the enthusiasm of like-minded entrepreneurs in the wings. The root of the problem is that the UK does not have storage room. Homes are small, garages are packed to the gunnels, cellars are damp and no longer built, refrigerators and deep freezers miniscule by American standards. We have compact cars for weekend travel rather than pick-up trucks for neighbourhood shopping .... And we don't have the squirrel instincts of the Americans who feel insecure unless they have 48 toilet rolls stowed away. We also have a thriving singles population who shop around in cars, have more money, experiment with new products and behave very much like old yuppies. And they don't mind smaller packs that cost more. They also appreciate quality and are less likely to go downmarket compared to family shoppers. Perhaps the most important facet of this growing sector is that it could provide a salvation for independent stores. There are suggestions that delivery, telephone ordering, higher quality foods and closer targeting could become very much in vogue. And these services are not exclusively required by single shoppers. Many families share upmarket aspirations, and have adopted the M & S style of living (the best restaurant food eaten at home) and are fed up with the chores, the queues, the battle to decide .... Of course the bulk will continue to support our supermarket way of life ... but the niches are growing.