Sector Growth

I can't help noticing that 2009 looks to be a peak year in the creation of community owned shops. The figures as shown in the right hand column of http://www.plunkett.uk.net/shops (under the heading 'Year Established') seems to indicate that 2009 saw 38 shops come into being, whilst here we are nearly mid-year in 2010, and only 2 shops listed as being set up so far this year.

For 2008 the listing shows 8 shops.

So I guess my question is: Was last year a blip, or is there a trend, and we'll see a big rush of new starts in the second half of the year?

Looking more widely, what are the factors that affect the rate of startups in the sector?