The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. Real Estate Initiatives - Update.

YORK, Pa. -- The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: BONT) today announced real estate initiatives regarding its Bon-Ton Park City Center store located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and its Carson Pirie Scott Chicago Ridge Mall store located in metropolitan Chicago, Illinois.

The Park City Center store will be expanded from 142,000 square feet to 179,000 square feet, allowing for new businesses and expanded merchandise selection, and the existing store will be remodeled. Construction of the 37,000 square foot expansion will commence in April 2007 and is scheduled for completion in October 2007. The main store remodeling is expected to begin in January 2008 and is scheduled for completion in October 2008. In addition, the Company announced a 32,000 square foot remote location in the Parkview Plaza that is located adjacent to its Park City Center to accommodate a furniture gallery. The furniture gallery will open in late fall 2006 with a grand opening celebration in January 2007.

The Chicago Ridge store will be expanded from 124,000 square feet to 154,000 square feet, allowing for new businesses and expanded merchandise selection. Construction of the 30,000 square foot expansion will be completed mid-November 2006. The main store remodeling is expected to begin in January 2007 and is scheduled for completion in August 2007.

Bud Bergren, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We are pleased to offer our customers in the Lancaster and Chicago Ridge areas a greater selection of merchandise from our expanded stores and in the case of Park City, the addition of a brand new furniture gallery. Our Park City and Chicago Ridge stores have always been premier locations for the Company. We look forward to the opportunities the expansions and the furniture gallery will afford us. The additional space and remodel will allow us to increase the productivity of the stores and enhance the shopping experience for our customers."

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. operates 271 department stores and seven furniture stores galleries in 23 states in the Northeast, Midwest and upper Great Plains under the Bon-Ton, Bergner's, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Elder-Beerman, Herberger's and Younkers nameplates. The stores offer a broad assortment of brand-name fashion apparel and accessories for women, men and children, as well as cosmetics, home furnishings and other goods. For further information, please visit the investor relations section of the Company's website at www.bonton.com/investor/home.asp.

Statements made in this press release, other than statements of historical information are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. Factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to, risks related to retail businesses generally, additional competition from existing and new competitors, uncertainties associated with opening new stores or expanding or remodeling existing stores, risks related to the Company's integration of the business and operations comprising the recently-acquired Carson's stores, the ability to attract and retain qualified management, the dependence upon key vendor relationships and the ability to obtain financing for working capital, capital expenditures and general corporate purposes. Additional factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ from those contained in these forward-looking statements are discussed in greater detail in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.