Get Away to Bombay; National Furniture Store Goes Online with Shabang!

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 1999--

The Bombay Company, one of the nation's largest specialty retailers of traditional and classic furniture, has announced that it is going on-line with personal shopping community, Shabang! (www.shabang.com).

The national merchant is the first such company to join links with Shabang!, an on-line shopping community that offers users the convenience of shopping for everything from children's apparel to stereo equipment.

The Bombay Company (www.bombayco.com) has established itself as the provider of trendy and upscale furniture. The store also features coordinating accessories and wall decor to complement its style and tone of fashion.

"At Bombay our main focus is meeting the needs of our customers. That means with the trend in shopping moving toward on-line purchases, we want to be able to meet the needs of the virtual shopper," said Carmie Mehrlander, Bombay president. "Signing on with Shabang! will afford us the opportunity to make our products available 24 hours a day."

Bob Wood, chairman and chief technology officer of Shabang! said that with the two linked together, Bombay will see more traffic on-line. "We are proud to have a national company like Bombay on-line with us. With their fresh approach and Shabang!'s shopping convenience, Bombay will increase their customer base and see a high volume of traffic on-line."

On-line shoppers will be able to select from complete Bombay collections of furniture for the home office, bedroom, dining room and family room. They can choose from the traditional styles or make selections from the more trendy styles.

The Bombay Company, Inc. is a specialty retailer marketing classic and traditional furniture, prints and accessories through a network of 412 Bombay stores and its mail order operations in the United States and Canada.

Shabang! is the Texas-based brainchild of Bob Wood, chairman and chief technology officer, who recruited Ray Falkner as president and chief executive officer. Formerly of Microsoft, Wood and Falkner designed Shabang! to be the first global online personal shopping community that combines comparison shopping with community interaction with other similar interests.

Based in Richardson, Texas, Shabang! is a private company that allows shoppers to search easily for a wide range of unique products and over 2,000 product categories from large and small merchants. For merchants, Shabang! provides an e-commerce solution for a fraction of the cost of having their own site.