Elder-Beerman Announces Grand Opening of Frankfort Store.

DAYTON, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 15, 1999--

The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. (Nasdaq/NM:EBSC) announces that the Grand Opening celebration for its newest department store in Frankfort, Kentucky will be November 19, 1999, with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 8:00 a.m. The celebration continues through the weekend with terrific savings and exciting special events. The store is located at 202 Limestone Drive, Frankfort, Kentucky, east of the intersection of Lawrenceburg Road and the Eastwest Connector.

The 54,000 square-foot Frankfort store is the second of Elder-Beerman's new prototype department stores. The first new prototype store in Warsaw, Indiana had a very successful grand opening last month. The Frankfort store will carry Elder-Beerman's traditional mix of moderate to better brand name merchandise for men, women, juniors, young men and children plus a full assortment of home furnishings. Elder-Beerman has designed the store to enhance the customer shopping experience through a more convenient store layout and high-capacity fixturing that will attractively display more merchandise in less space.

The Frankfort store has many innovative features, including:

-- Self-select/assisted-sell cosmetics - All of the fragrances and

about 50 percent of the treatment products will be available on

open shelves for shopping convenience.

-- The Zone - A combined juniors' and young men's shop that creates

an exciting specialty store within a store for the generation Y

customer.

-- Centralized customer service centers - Six centers throughout the

store will be staffed during all store hours to facilitate fast

and easy purchases for the customer.

The first 1,000 guests entering the doors will receive a $10 off coupon valid toward any purchase of $25 or more. Customers are eligible to receive a free Elder-Beerman tote bag with a $25 Elder-Beerman charge card purchase while quantities last. Weekend festivities include live musical entertainment, strolling clowns and face painters to entertain the children, light refreshments and register to win contests. Customers may receive free gifts with their purchases in many departments and are eligible to register to win over $6,000 in prizes, including the grand prize of a $1000 shopping spree. Customers may refer to in store displays for more details.

Shoppers are invited to apply for an Elder-Beerman charge card and receive a 10 percent discount on their first day's purchases using the Elder-Beerman charge card. Further, customers applying for a charge card during our Grand Opening celebration will receive a crystal star-shaped candleholder with votive candle when they complete their application.

The nation's eighth largest independent department store chain, The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio and operates 61 stores in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Elder-Beerman also operates two furniture superstores.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements," including predictions of future operating performance, events or developments such as our future sales, profits, expenses, income and earnings per share. In addition, words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "hopes," and "estimates," and variations of such words and similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Because forward-looking statements are based on a number of beliefs, estimates and assumptions by management that could ultimately prove inaccurate, there is no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. Many factors could materially affect our actual future operations and results, including the following: increasing price and product competition; fluctuations in consumer demand and confidence; the availability and mix of inventory; fluctuations in costs and expenses; the effectiveness of advertising, marketing and promotional programs; weather conditions that affect consumer traffic in stores; the continued availability and terms of financing; the outcome of pending and future litigation; consumer debt levels; and other general economic conditions that affect retail operations and sales, such as the rate of employment, inflation and interest rates and the condition of the capital markets. Elder-Beerman undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.