Select Comfort Corporation Announces Change in Strategic Direction For 2000.

Business Editors

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 23, 1999

Select Comfort Corporation (Nasdaq: AIRB), the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based bedding manufacturer and retailer, today announced that it will be making strategic changes in its business operations and marketing plans in 2000, with a focus on profitable growth. Based in part on several studies by outside consulting firms that examined consumer preferences, product positioning and alternative distribution, the company will focus on several key strategic priorities in 2000, including:

-    Emphasizing profitable growth of its retail operations by:
     incorporating its new store design, which has shown to increase
     store traffic and sales, into more existing stores through
     remodels and relocations; slowing down retail store growth by
     opening only approximately 15 mall-based stores in 2000, with the
     goal of increasing store density in some existing markets; and by
     developing detailed market-by-market and store-by-store plans to
     invest in winning stores and address under-performing stores.

     The additional strategic priorities described below also are
intended to enhance retail profitability, as well as the profitability
of Select Comfort's direct marketing and e-commerce sales channels.

-    Marketing is being integrated across the company's selling
     channels for consistency of message and efficiency in advertising
     spending, and to drive consumers to their preferred sales
     channel. The company also will pursue a broader customer base
     with more specific market-by-market approaches. The company will
     de-emphasize the use of "The Air Bed Company" as a tagline,
     because it is too limiting for product development, and research
     showed that it is not well-understood by consumers.

-    Select Comfort will provide in-home delivery and set-up of its
     beds in major metropolitan areas, along with removal of old
     mattresses, by the end of the second quarter 2000. Concurrently,
     the company plans to provide delivery within 72 hours.

-    Early results from a 16-store test have been promising for the
     company's sofa sleeper line, introduced earlier this year. If
     results continue to meet or exceed expectations, Select Comfort
     will continue to roll out the sofa sleeper across all sales
     channels throughout 2000.

-    Select Comfort plans to test distribution of its products through
     select wholesale channels to help increase opportunities for
     consumers to encounter and purchase the company's products.

Senior vice president of strategic planning and branding, Tracey Breazeale said, "We have found that our retail store performance by market is reasonably predictable based on cumulative advertising spending and store density. We will be pursuing a strategy of increasing advertising spending in under-advertised markets and building store density in markets with too few stores."

Chairman and interim CEO Patrick Hopf added, "Our strategic direction is designed to restore profitability and to generate long-term growth. In the coming weeks, we will fill out our management team with a permanent CEO and a senior vice president of marketing, and this group will develop the specific tactics and plans to execute this strategic direction. While the board of directors and the management team do not expect these initiatives to have immediate benefits, we are optimistic about the potential for creating long-term significant shareholder value."

Founded in 1987, Select Comfort Corporation is the leader in air bed technology, holding 24 U.S. issued or pending patents for its products. The company designs, manufactures and markets a line of mattresses with adjustable firmness, as well as foundations and sleep accessories. Select Comfort's products are sold through 341 retail stores located nationwide, including 45 leased departments in Bed Bath & Beyond stores, through its national direct marketing operations, and on the internet at www.selectcomfort.com.

Statements used in this press release that relate to future plans, events, financial results or performance are forward-looking statements as defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual plans, events, results and performance may differ materially from those anticipated as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the company's ability to create product and brand name awareness, the efficiency and effectiveness of the company's marketing and advertising, the level of consumer acceptance of the company's existing and new products, the ability of the company to efficiently implement nationwide home delivery and assembly, the performance of the company's existing and new stores, the company's ability to improve its existing products and introduce new products, economic trends, industry competition, as well as the risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in the company's filings with the SEC, including the company's registration statement on Form S-1, the Annual Report on Form 10-K and other periodic reports filed with the SEC. The company has no obligation to publicly update or revise any of the forward-looking statements that may be in this news release.