Despite this year's challenging economic environment, Coinstar Inc. has had a monumental 2009, so far. In the past two months, the company has announced the addition of prepaid cards to its Coinstar kiosk offerings, a nationwide redbox installation deal with Albertson's grocery stores, a pilot financial-services program with TIO Networks and a redbox/Sony Home Entertainment agreement worth $460 million.
Today, Coinstar announced a deal with The Kroger Co. that will put redbox DVD-rental kiosks in Kroger grocery stores nationwide. According to a news release from Coinstar, within the next year, redbox's Kroger footprint will grow from 200 to more than 2,600.
Coinstar's coin-counting kiosks already exist in Kroger stores, and Gregg Kaplan, CEO of Coinstar Inc., says the redbox rollout is a natural expansion of that relationship:
 | Kroger has been a valued customer of Coinstar for a number of years, and we're very pleased to expand our relationship with this industry leader beyond our self-service coin-counting kiosks to now include redbox DVD kiosks. Our products are designed to deliver convenience and value to the consumer while increasing foot traffic for our retailers, and we look forward to partnering with Kroger to serve their customers. |  |
Coinstar Inc. will announce its second-quarter earnings during a conference call Aug. 4.
