Transportation has been called “the forgotten link” in the chain of flower distribution for a good reason. The flower supply chain is commonly thought of as grower to importer to bouquet maker or wholesale florist to retailer, forgetting how many companies and people are involved with getting flowers from one of those links to another.

Supervalu Inc. announced Jan. 10 that it will sell its Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw's and Star Market stores and related Osco and Sav-on in-store pharmacies to AB Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of a Cerberus Capital Management L.P.-led investor consortium, in a transaction valued at $3.3 billion.

The sale to AB Acquisition includes 877 stores for $100 million in cash. Additionally, the group will assume $3.2 billion in existing debt, according to a press release issued by Supervalu.

The World Floral Expo returns to New York for its second straight year. In early December, the show had booked 35 exhibitors from about a dozen countries.

The show will run at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 13-15, according to Jasper van Dijk, marketing manager for the sponsor, HPP Exhibitions in Holland. The Javits Center has about 48,000 square feet of exhibit area.

Excitement builds every January as the Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association races toward the year’s kick-off premiere show — its Tropical Plant Industry Exposition. We anticipate a strong spring market for tropical and foliage plants. The tropical eye candy that fills the entire Broward County Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale, FL, for TPIE attracts tropical and foliage plant buyers from throughout the United States and nearly 50 countries.

“Our crop was pretty similar to the rest of New York state,” Lee Peters, vice president of sales and marketing for Fowler Bros. Inc., in Wolcott, NY, told The Produce News. “There is no question that we are down in crop size, but despite the rumors in the marketplace, we are definitely doing business. At the end of the day, it’s going to be an OK year. It is absolutely not true that New York does not have apples.”

Columbia Marketing International, headquartered in Wenatchee, WA, hit a home run with the introduction of new, exciting bag and bin options for retailers this apple season. A new two-pound standup pouch bag is available for the company’s line of organic apples marketed under the “Daisy Girl” label.