Blackhawk Network has made a bunch more changes to its lineup of Happy and Choice gift cards, discontinuing three Happy brands and launching two new Choice brands.
Here are all the details.
Discontinued Happy Gift Cards
The following three Happy brands appear to have been discontinued:
- Happy You
- Happy Her
- Happy Dining
This continues the trend of Blackhawk Network phasing out their Happy brands that can be redeemed in-store seeing as Happy Her and Happy Dining were both those types of cards, although Happy You was a brand that had to be redeemed online.
Happy Her being discontinued will likely be the brand more people will be disappointed about seeing as that could sometimes be used in-store to buy third party gift cards for other brands at stores with gift card racks such as Macy’s and Bed Bath & Beyond. Having said that, Bed Bath & Beyond has done away with its gift card racks, so that’s less of an issue nowadays.
Something else that might be notable for some is that Happy Her was the only brand that could be redeemed at Peet’s Coffee, so that’s no longer a redemption option on Happy, Choice and Giving Good gift cards. It also means that Happy Teen gift cards are the only ones that can be used at Sephora. Seeing as Happy Teen is another physical card that can only be redeemed in-store, I wouldn’t be surprised if that gets discontinued at some point too.
New Choice Gift Card Brands
It’s the circle of life because even though some Happy brands have died, two new Choice brands have been birthed.
Choice Happy B-Day
As you can see, the eligible brands on this new Happy B-Day card are:
- Barnes & Noble
- Cinemark Theatres
- Dave & Buster’s
- Jamba Juice
- Macy’s
- Taco Bell
- Xbox
All of these brands can be found on other Happy, Choice or Giving Good brands with the exception of Taco Bell – Happy B-Day is the only brand that’s currently on.
Choice Season’s Greetings
The eligible brands on this new Season’s Greetings card are:
- Chili’s
- GameStop
- Lowe’s
- Macy’s
- Red Lobster
- Ulta Beauty
Something interesting about this card is that it’s one that’s redeemable in-store rather than online. That means it can be used to buy third party gift cards at GameStop and Macy’s seeing as they have gift card racks. It might be possible to do that at Lowe’s too, although it’s been a long time since I’ve tried that and from what I can remember they’ve hardcoded against allowing that. With this being a new gift card brand though, it might be possible to buy discounted Choice Season’s Greetings gift cards and then use those to buy Visa gift cards at Lowe’s.
I had no idea that Macy’s had a gift card rack. I vaguely remember looking a few years ago and not seeing anything at my local store. Do they stock anything worthwhile?
Hmm….now you ask that I’m wondering if I’ve gotten it mixed up with JCPenney. JCPenney does have gift card racks; I feel like Macy’s does, but now I’m doubting myself.
JCP definitely has one, with lots of good cards at most locations (AirBnB, Southwest, Delta, Disney). I will re-check Macy’s next time I am near one and report, but perhaps others can pitch in.
If they really were interested in getting rid of the cards with in store redemption, they would get rid of the happy treats which is pretty much the only one people are buying these days, since it can be used to buy 3rd party gift cards at gamestop which carries major 3rd party cards like Amazon.
Are you sure Lowes hard coded the registers against buying GCs with happy gcs?
I remember buying one a year ago at self checkout with no issues.
I thought they’d hardcoded against it, but perhaps they didn’t after all. The fact that you had success last year bodes well because if I did have issues with it in the past it would’ve been further back than that.
I feel like you’ve had a more recent post about this, but I can’t find it. Anyway, I noticed some new cards/brands on the happycards.com website. Fun & Fabulous includes bloomingdales and Victoria’s Secret, neither of which I think were included on any previous cards. Home Sweet Home has Ikea and Staples. There might be other changes or new cards out there but I don’t recall what you’ve previously written about.
Thanks for the heads up – I’d been meaning to check up on those changes, so I’ll do that now.