I cannot imagine that American Express would curtail their program. Depending on the "color" card - you pay LOTS more $$ than other cards for the honor of carrying it.
With that being said, when we built the house I had not redeemed points for about 5 years and turned all those points into Home Depot cards. Worked Great. I have shied away from the AmEx gift cards - you only get about 1/2 the value of other cards so if you can find a suitable retailer that would be your best bet.