?"We are confident we will have another good year, although if last year was anything to go by, with flooding hitting parts of Britain, you should learn to expect the unexpected. We had a pretty good 2007 and expect more of the same although I don't predict sales will rise too much. I think sales of healthier foods and ethnic products are going to increase this year so we intend to stock more of these lines. We are probably going to cut less well-selling lines in our store, such as washing powder and canned goods, to make more space for fresh foods such as bread, fruit and vegetables. Are supermarkets going to be more of a threat to us? They already are and they always will be, so it's just something you've got to deal with."

Great hopes for sales Scottish retailer



?It's going to be great for us. Sales of ready meals and healthier snacks rose steadily last year and we had a very successful Christmas. We hope this will translate into even better things this year and are looking to invest money into maybe extending the store or at least improving the layout and merchandising, which we think will really help sales. Of course, it's harder to predict what effect this will have on profit but we are confident the business is in good shape. We are fortunate that we don't have any large supermarkets near us so don't really feel the effect of their competition. If one decided to open near me I wouldn't be happy because I think it could have a real impact on our sales.

Praying for sunshine Devon retailer



?We operate in a small town and have lots of loyal customers so think 2008 will be pretty steady for us - not much is going to change either way. Trading is quite tough at times - it picks up during the summer when there is a large influx of tourists buying ice creams, postcards, books and newspapers - so we will never see a huge increase in sales unless the weather is exceptionally good. We were affected last year by the poor weather and are praying for a much better summer this year. Because we rely on tourism our sales go up or down depending on how many people visit the town rather than who goes to the supermarket generally. There is no obvious place for a Tesco or Sainsbury's to open up near us so we think we will be OK in the short term.London retailer