• Publix remains No. 1 in market share among grocery stores in Northeast Florida. The quarterly update by the Shelby Report of the Southeast trade publication says Walmart remains No. 2 followed by Winn-Dixie at No. 3. The three chains account for 85 percent of the grocery sales in Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties. Publix and Walmart rose slightly while Winn-Dixie fell a fraction. Numbers are compiled by The Nielsen Co.-Trade Dimensions.
• Speaking of Publix, its 46 area stores accounted for 32.2 percent of grocery sales in the region. Winn-Dixie, with 45 stores, grabbed 22.6 percent. Walmart, meanwhile, took almost 30 percent of the market with just 17 stores.
• Gov. Charlie Crist reappointed two members of the University of North Florida’s Board of Trustees Wednesday: Dr. Edythe Abdullah, president of the Downtown Campus of Florida State College at Jacksonville; and Dr. Bruce Taylor, chair and CEO of Jacksonville-based Taylor Engineering. Their terms started Tuesday and end Jan. 6, 2015.
• Mark Constantine has been named vice president for strategy, policy and learning at the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. He was a Senior Fellow for the fund from 2005-09 and before that advised the fund as an independent consultant.
• According to real estate consultant Ray Rodriguez, home sales under $100,000 are rising, but that may be attributable to the number of area foreclosures. Between 2008 and 2009, the sale of homes under $100,000 in Duval County rose 58 percent. At the same time, the sale of foreclosures increased 600 percent.
• Lots of shoes will be for sale during the Gate River Run Expo today through Saturday, but there’s a place for used shoes, too. Organizations such as SolePurpose will set up booths to collect those old running shoes to distribute to the homeless at the St. Francis Soup Kitchen Downtown.
• Speaking of the River Run, after the race the Landing will host its Fifth Annual Gumbo Festival Saturday presented by the local PHiNS club (Parrotheads in Natural Settings). There will be more than a dozen gumbo competition booths. Live entertainment starts at noon by the George Aspinal Band followed by the Sauce Boss at 5 p.m. The Sauce Boss was featured in a song written and performed by Jimmy Buffett in “I Play for Gumbo.” After the gumbo judging ends, the eating begins.
• Movies in the Park returns to Treaty Oak Park on Prudential Drive April 16 with “Shrek” on the big outdoor screen. The rest of this season’s lineup includes “Sixteen Candles” April 23, “Back to the Future” April 30 and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” May 7. The films begin at dusk and admission is free, as is parking in the Suddath garage. The annual family film series is sponsored by Downtown Vision Inc. and The City of Jacksonville.
• The Jacksonville Suns 2010 regular season begins April 8 and single-game tickets go on sale Monday online at www.jaxsuns.com and at the Baseball Grounds box office. Tickets also are available for the April 2 Major League exhibition game featuring the 2009 Southern League Champions taking on the Florida Marlins. The Suns will sport new uniforms and colors this season. While not a full redesign, the colors will change from blue, yellow and red to black and gold. The change is the first since the “Expos” were renamed the “Suns” in 1991.