Hi guys, I'm a new member; however, not new to the community ) BTW, my name is Sam. I've a question regarding query optimization and would like to seek your help.

Here's my query:
SELECT COUNT(item.itemId) as itemCount, stores.storeId, stores.name FROM bus_stores stores LEFT JOIN bus_items item ON item.businessId = stores.businessId and item.status='completed' WHERE stores.status='active' GROUP BY stores.storeId ORDER BY itemCount DESC LIMIT 0, 20

Explain:
id select_type table type possible_keys key key_len ref rows Extra
1 SIMPLE stores index PRIMARY 8 47 Using where; Using temporary; Using filesort
1 SIMPLE item ref i_businessid_status i_businessid_status 10 aceonline.stores.businessid,const 9 Using where

Index Information:
bus_stores: storeId is PK; Table size: 3000 records
bus_items: itemId is the PK, KEY i_businessid_status(businessid, status); Table size: 1 million records

The above query is taking about 5 sec to execute, which is a real shame.

Could anyone, plese, shed some light on how to optimize this query for better performance?

Thanks