Is exclusivity illegal?

[mimomeemo]

I buy a lot from a particular wholesaler but a couple of businesses on the same street as me have started buying from them too. One of them is trying to play supermarket wars with me by selling at lower prices. I don't want to get involved with that.
I know I am by far the bigger buyer from that wholesaler, but when I asked them if they would sell exclusively to me rather than two the other two who came after me, they said it's illegal not to sell to any retailer that approaches them.
I can't find any information about this online though. I myself have twice been refused sales from other wholesalers who have said they already have stockists in the area. It seemed fair enough to me.

I'm a bit confused as you see places that say they are the exclusive stockists of a particular item.

I don't really like the idea of trying to stop another retailer from buying from the same supplier, but I had aimed at different goods to be original and now I'm not so original :-(
We are all three independent shops.
Thanks any advice and opinions too!

 

[MBE1]

It's not illegal, so what they are really saying is they want to.

Many companies restrict the supply of their goods to help maintain margins and to obtain decent stockists who will commit to high stock levels, exclusivity in an area gives them confidence to do so.

 

[Ashley_Price]

I don't believe it is illegal. It maybe the supplier doesn't realise this, or as @MBE1 says, they don't want you to have exclusive rights.

Of course, you might be able to change their tune if you were buying the products in significant quantities for them to consider giving you exclusivity. But then it might open up problems for them in other geographical areas where they have several buyers for their products and one then wants to go exclusive.