The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. Announces November Sales

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: BONT) today announced comparable store sales for the four weeks ended November 29, 2008 decreased 16.0% compared with the prior year period. Total sales for the four weeks decreased 15.5% to $332.3 million compared with $393.1 million for the prior year period.

Year-to-date comparable store sales decreased 7.7% compared with the prior year period. Year-to-date total sales decreased 7.2% to $2,430.8 million compared with $2,620.1 million for the same period last year.

Tony Buccina, Vice Chairman and President – Merchandising, commented, "We delivered on our projected sales plan in November. Due to the calendar shift, comparable stores sales were down for the month as expected, with an additional week of holiday sales coming in December. Given the November sales results, we are on track to achieve the previously provided fourth quarter comparable store sales guidance. Our best performing categories were accessories, outerwear, shoes, children’s and cosmetics. Our weakest performing categories were furniture, juniors, petite sportswear and men's sportswear. Seasonal categories were strong performers across the board in women's, men's, children’s and home. We were pleased with our companywide execution and record breaking results for the after-Thanksgiving sales on Friday and Saturday, evidence that we are capturing market share of the consumer spend. Our continued discipline in inventory control led to an inventory reduction of 6.4% on a comparable store basis. We enter December with fresh assortments supported by an aggressive, value-driven marketing program.”

Keith Plowman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, stated, "We ended November with excess borrowing capacity under our revolving credit facility of $241 million, well above the $75 million covenant. We expect our excess borrowing capacity will continue to increase through the fourth quarter, similar to the prior year, reflecting the higher sales volume generated after Thanksgiving through the end of the holiday selling season.”

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. operates 281 stores, including twelve furniture galleries, in 23 states in the Northeast, Midwest and upper Great Plains under the Bon-Ton, Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s and Younkers nameplates and, under the Parisian nameplate, stores in the Detroit, Michigan area. The stores offer a broad assortment of brand-name fashion apparel and accessories for women, men and children, as well as cosmetics and home furnishings. For further information, please visit the investor relations section of the Company’s website at http://investors.bonton.com.

Certain information included in this press release contains statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words such as "may,” "could,” "will,” "plan,” "expect,” "anticipate,” "estimate,” "project,” "intend” or other similar expressions, involve important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect results in the future and, accordingly, such results may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the Company. Factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to, risks related to retail businesses generally; a significant and prolonged deterioration of general economic conditions which could negatively impact the Company, including the potential write-down of the current valuation of intangible assets and deferred taxes; consumer spending patterns and debt levels; additional competition from existing and new competitors; inflation; changes in the costs of fuel and other energy and transportation costs; weather conditions that could negatively impact sales; uncertainties associated with opening new stores or expanding or remodeling existing stores; the ability to attract and retain qualified management; the dependence upon vendor relationships; the ability to reduce SG&A expenses and the ability to obtain financing for working capital, capital expenditures and general corporate purposes. Additional factors that could cause the Company’s actual results to differ from those contained in these forward-looking statements are discussed in greater detail under Item 1A of the Company’s Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.