The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. Announces February Sales

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: BONT) today announced comparable store sales for the four weeks ended February 27, 2010 increased 0.5%. Total sales for the four weeks decreased 0.1% to $199.9 million compared with $200.2 million for the prior year period.

Tony Buccina, Vice Chairman and President – Merchandising, commented, "We are encouraged by our February sales, which exceeded expectations, despite significant disruption from winter storms. We estimate the storms to have impacted our performance by several percentage points. Increased sales were generated from regular-priced merchandise, our incredible value program and eCommerce. Our best performing businesses were outerwear, accessories, shoes, cosmetics, children’s, juniors and soft home. Our weakest performing businesses were hard home and furniture. We ended the month with 13% less clearance inventory than a year ago. We are pleased with the positive response from our customers to our fresh spring assortment.”

Keith Plowman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, stated, "We ended February with excess borrowing capacity under our revolving credit facility of approximately $393 million, well above the required minimum availability of $75 million.”

Financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2009 are scheduled to be released Wednesday, March 10, 2010. The Company will host a quarterly conference call to discuss fourth quarter and fiscal 2009 results to be broadcast live Wednesday, March 10, 2010, at 10:00 a.m. Eastern time. Investors and analysts interested in participating in the call are invited to dial (800) 890-0881 at 9:55 a.m. Eastern time. A taped replay of the conference call will be available within two hours of the conclusion of the call and will remain available through Wednesday, March 24, 2010. The number to call for the taped replay is (888) 203-1112 and the conference PIN is 6489962. The conference call will also be broadcast on the Company’s website at http://investors.bonton.com. An online archive of the webcast will be available within two hours of the conclusion of the call and will remain available through Wednesday, March 24, 2010.

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., with corporate offices in York, Pennsylvania and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, operates 278 stores, including 11 furniture 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 and, in the Detroit, Michigan area, under the Parisian nameplate. The stores offer a broad assortment of brand-name fashion apparel and accessories for women, men and children, as well as cosmetics and home furnishings. For further information, please visit the investor relations section of the Company’s website at http://investors.bonton.com.

Certain information included in this press release contains statements that are forward-looking within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words such as "may,” "could,” "will,” "plan,” "expect,” "anticipate,” "estimate,” "project,” "intend” or other similar expressions, involve important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect results in the future and, accordingly, such results may differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of the Company. Factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to, risks related to retail businesses generally; a significant and prolonged deterioration of general economic conditions which could negatively impact the Company, including the potential write-down of the current valuation of intangible assets and deferred taxes; changes in the terms of the Company’s proprietary credit card program; potential increase in pension obligations; consumer spending patterns, debt levels, and the availability and cost of consumer credit; additional competition from existing and new competitors; inflation; changes in the costs of fuel and other energy and transportation costs; weather conditions that could negatively impact sales; uncertainties associated with expanding or remodeling existing stores; the ability to attract and retain qualified management; the dependence upon relationships with vendors and their factors; a security breach; the ability to reduce SG&A expenses; the incurrence of unplanned capital expenditures; the ability to realize the expected benefits from our planned changes in operating structure 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 under Item 1A of the Company’s Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.