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Safeway Enters United Kingdom with Gift Card Business

Thursday 3 August 2006 01:00 CET | News

Safeway subsidiary, Blackhawk Network, will expand its gift card business to the United Kingdom this year. Blackhawk Network was established as aseparate business unit in 2001 to capitalize on store traffic at Safeway and other retailers, and is now the largest provider of third-party gift cards in the United States and Canada.

To support its entry into the United Kingdom, Blackhawk Network has opened an office in Peterborough, England. Blackhawk Network provides a turn-key gift card solution to abroad network of top North American grocery, drug and convenience store retailers, with a gift card offering of more than 100 brands from best-in-class retailers such as Barnes & Noble Booksellers, BestBuy, iTunes Music Store, Pizza Hut, Starbucks Coffee, The HomeDepot, and Sears. Blackhawk Network also distributes prepaid debit and gift cards from American Express, MasterCard, Visa, and offers regional sports and entertainment gift cards for a range of venues and teams such as Universal Theme Parks, Paramounts Great America, the Oakland As, the San Francisco Giants, the Seattle Mariners and the Chicago White Sox. Blackhawk Networks Peterborough office will be run by Russell Atkinson, Managing Director of Blackhawk Network, UK. Mr. Atkinson was formerly Director of ePayments for Travelex and is the currentchairman of the UK Electronic Money Association, the main trade body for prepaid products in the United Kingdom. Previously, he also held senior sales and marketing positions with Scholl, Johnson & Johnson and Brita. Since 2001, Blackhawk Network has grown its market-leadingposition in North American third-party gift card sales, and has become a worldwide leader in card-based financial solutions. Its business launch in the United Kingdom represents its first expansion outside ofNorth America.


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