Elder-Beerman Celebrates Grand Opening of Plover, Wisconsin Concept Store.

Business Editors

DAYTON, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 27, 2001

The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. (Nasdaq:EBSC) will celebrate the grand opening of its newest department store in Plover, Wisconsin on March 29, 2001, with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 8:00 a.m. The Plover store is located in the Plover Plaza on State Route 54 near Interstate 39.

The 55,000 square-foot store is the sixth store the company has opened in its award winning Concept Store format. The company has announced that at least two more new stores will open this fall in Kohler, Wisconsin and DuBois, Pennsylvania.

"Retail is entering a new phase," stated Frederick J. Mershad, Elder-Beerman's chairman and chief executive officer. "And our three-part strategic plan is intended to allow us to evolve from a traditional department store to a new kind of store. Our goal is to keep the best traits of a fashion department store and offer a competitive balance of price, selection, convenience and service -- in short, to offer the best value we can to our customers."

"The growth of our Concept Stores is very important to our three-part strategic plan," Mershad continued. "Concept Store growth, along with our emphasis on value in our merchandising strategy and the increased efficiencies of our organizational structure, allows us to evolve from a traditional department store into a new kind of store. We look forward to serving new customers in Plover."

Like the other Concept Stores, the Plover store will carry a mix of brand name fashion merchandise for men, women, juniors, young men and children; a full assortment of home furnishings; and cosmetics and fragrances, including Estee Lauder, Clinique, Lancome and Elizabeth Arden. Elder-Beerman has designed its Concept Stores 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 Plover store incorporates Elder-Beerman's concept store innovations, including:

-- Centralized customer service centers -- Strategically located centers
throughout the store will be staffed during all store hours to facilitate fast
and easy purchases for the customer with Elder-Beerman's new proprietary point
of sale system. These service centers and the new point of sale system help
Elder-Beerman to provide the fast and efficient service that today's customer
needs.

-- Self-select 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 creates an exciting
specialty store within a store for the next generation of Elder-Beerman
customers.

-- Bridal registry kiosk -- Using a touch-screen activated computer customers
gain immediate access to a couple's registry wish list. Elder-Beerman offers
free, personal bridal registry consultation by appointment.

The nation's ninth largest independent department store chain, The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio and now operates 63 department 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: the ability to open new stores on schedule, including our new stores announced for 2001 in Plover, Wisconsin, Kohler, Wisconsin and DuBois, Pennsylvania; increasing price and product competition; fluctuations in consumer demand and confidence, especially during the Christmas shopping season and in light of current general economic conditions, interest rates and the capital markets; the availability and mix of inventory; fluctuations in costs and expenses; consumer response to the company's new merchandising strategies, advertising, marketing and promotional programs; the ability of the company to achieve its expense cutting initiatives as it implements its strategic plan; the timing and effectiveness of new store openings, particularly its new concept stores opened in the Fall season of 2000 (Howell, Michigan; West Bend, Wisconsin; and Jasper, Indiana) and the new concept stores to be opened in 2001; the growing impact of electronic commerce; weather conditions that affect consumer traffic in stores, especially during the Christmas season; the continued availability and terms of financing; the outcome of pending and future litigation; consumer debt levels; the impact of any new consumer bankruptcy laws; 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.