Elder-Beerman to Celebrate the Grand Opening of DuBois, Pennsylvania Concept Store.

Business Editors

DAYTON, Ohio--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 5, 2001

The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. (Nasdaq:EBSC) will celebrate the grand opening of its newest department store in DuBois, Pennsylvania, on September 13, 2001, beginning at 8:00 a.m. The DuBois store is located in The Commons, a new shopping center located on Route 255.

The 55,000 square-foot store will be the seventh department store in the company's award-winning concept store format. The company has announced two more new stores in Kohler, Wisconsin and Alliance, Ohio that will open in October 2001.

"The concept stores have helped us evolve from a traditional department store to a new kind of store," said Frederick J. Mershad, Elder-Beerman's chairman and chief executive officer. "Our customers told us that they want fashion, value and selection in an attractive and comfortable shopping environment. We are delighted to bring all of those elements together in our concept store to the community of DuBois."

Like the other concept stores, the DuBois store will carry a mix of 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.

The DuBois 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 proprietary point of
sale system. These service centers and the 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.

The first 1,000 guests entering the store will receive a $10 off coupon valid toward any purchase of $25 or more (some exclusions apply). Customers are eligible to receive a free Elder-Beerman canvas tote bag with a $25 Elder-Beerman charge card purchase while quantities last. Customers may receive gifts with their purchases in many departments and are eligible to register to win one of two $1,000 shopping sprees.

Shoppers may 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. Customers applying for a charge card during the Grand Opening celebration will also receive a crystal star-shaped candleholder with votive candle when they complete their application.

The nation's ninth largest independent department store chain, The Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio and now operates 64 department stores in Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Elder-Beerman also operates two furniture superstores.

Please note: This release may contain certain "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 Kohler, WI and Alliance, OH; 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 and Spring and Fall seasons of 2001 (Howell, MI; West Bend, WI; Jasper, IN; Plover, WI and DuBois, PA) and the remaining concept stores to be opened in the Fall season of 2001; the 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.