Ejoj:
You've hit the nail on the head there... While people think its just a simple matter of speaking with a shop the reality is totally different. You may get a small chain interested but the larger chains will not deal with individual publishers such as myself. We have to speak with a Distributor and convince them to convince the shops to stock the CD's. It really is very difficult, long and at times annoying.
Thats how it all works... Band -> Label -> Distributor -> Shop. Ofcourse the permitations from the label part goes off in all directions. (believe me it's be so much easier for me if i was a Distributor rather than a label, but hey what the heck

Even if we do convince a distributor to work for us it will still take time for the CD to wangle it's way into the shops.. It really is a long, painful journey.
Thats why i'm offering free CD's if a lead makes this happen