Coinstar and SUPERVALU Sign Agreement to Expand No Fee Coin Counting
Successful Pilot With SUPERVALU Gift Cards Leads to 1,000 Store Rollout
BELLEVUE, WA--(Marketwire - May 2, 2011) - Coinstar, Inc.(NASDAQ: CSTR) and SUPERVALU INC. (NYSE: SVU) today announced an agreement that will allow SUPERVALU customers to cash in their coins for free when they choose the SUPERVALU gift card option at the Coinstar® kiosk. The no fee option will be available in approximately 1,000 stores across the country including: ACME®, ALBERTSONS®, FARM FRESH®, HORNBACHER'S® , JEWEL-OSCO®, LUCKY®, SHAWS/STAR Market®, SHOP N'SAVE® and SHOPPERS®.
"We are very pleased with the results of the pilot program with Coinstar and look forward to a program expansion starting in June," said Mark Schumacher, SUPERVALU's director of financial services. "This agreement provides our customers the opportunity to receive the full value of their coins with no fees when they choose the gift card option."
SUPERVALU and Coinstar began their collaboration on the gift card project in January 2010 in approximately 78 Albertsons stores located in Washington and Oregon.
"We're delighted to be moving forward on this exciting new project with SUPERVALU and look forward to maximizing the potential increase in both trips and shopping basket size at SUPERVALU stores," said Mike Skinner, president of Coinstar's Coin business. "There's approximately $10 billion in coins across the U.S. waiting to be converted, and this gives consumers a compelling option for turning those coins into something of great value."
Coinstar's fee free coin counting service allows consumers to put the full value of their change onto a gift card or eCertificate from a variety of national retailers. Now, consumers can choose the SUPERVALU gift card option at the Coinstar kiosks located in SUPERVALU chains across the United States. For information regarding fee free coin counting and kiosk locations, visit www.coinstar.com.
About Coinstar, Inc.
Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSTR) is a leading provider of automated retail solutions offering convenient services that make life easier for consumers and drive incremental traffic and revenue for retailers. The company's core automated retail businesses include the well-known redbox® self-service DVD rental and Coinstar® self-service coin-counting brands. The company has approximately 31,800 DVD kiosks and 18,800 coin-counting kiosks in supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchants, financial institutions, convenience stores, and restaurants. For more information, visit www.coinstarinc.com.
About SUPERVALU INC.
SUPERVALU INC. is one of the largest companies in the U.S. grocery channel with annual sales of approximately $38 billion. SUPERVALU serves customers across the United States through a network of approximately 4,294 stores composed of 1,114 traditional retail stores, including 805 in-store pharmacies; 1,280 hard-discount stores, of which 899 are operated by licensee owners; and 1,900 independent stores serviced primarily by the company's traditional food distribution business. SUPERVALU has approximately 140,000 employees. For more information about SUPERVALU visit www.supervalu.com.
Posted by staff at May 2, 2011 09:17 AM