Coinstar is nickel and dime-ing (and penny and quarter-ing, for that matter) its way to a lucrative, and enviable, retail empire – without building a single store.

Its signature coin-counting machines have, of course become a ubiquitous sight in major supermarkets (serving as both customer convenience and traffic driver, since it can be the deciding factor determining which local store a consumer will shop.)

From that coin-counting base, Coinstar expanded its offerings to encompass prepaid wireless airtime, prepaid debit cards, prepaid long distance as well as skill crane machines, bulk vending, money transfer; and DVD rental kiosks – not to mention the charity and gift card options added to the original kiosk concept – to the point that it virtually owns the fourth wall ( the front end) of many supermarkets..

But Coinstar has other plans for our coins as well. Its latest? Coin-op kiddie rides.

A new idea? Not by a long shot. Most of us can recall the little-kid euphoria of clambering onto a coin-op horse (or rocket ship, or race car) decades ago. But Coinstar’s coup is that its kiddie-ride offerings link into the magic of Disney – they will be the only Disney-themed rides in the country outside of Disneyland or Disney World.

The power of the Disney tie-in cannot be underestimated. To a kid (particularly in the under-six set when the line between fantasy and reality blurs) the chance to see, touch and connect with beloved friends like Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, Mickey Mouse, Pumba, Buzz Lightyear, et. al., is the adult equivalent of scoring a smile, handshake and autograph from a sports hero or movie star.

That’s a lot of happiness for a quarter.

The thousand kiddie-rides Coinstar expects to install will begin showing up soon in select areas around the country at high-traffic locations including mass merchandisers (possibly Wal-Mart since its vestibule areas already often feature kiddie-rides) and toy stores (hopefully Toys R Us, which desperately needs fun elements in its stores – and, as has been written before here in PlainTalk, such licensed-character fun could easily drive additional toy sales.)

Has Coinstar pushed its concepts to the limit? Highly unlikely. Given its track record, the next idea is probably already on the drawing board stages. The only thing we can guess about it is this: it’ll be right on the money.