The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. Announces September Sales

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: BONT) today announced comparable store sales for the five weeks ended October 4, 2008 decreased 4.6% compared with the prior year period. Total sales for the five weeks decreased 2.7% to $299.4 million compared with $307.9 million for the prior year period.

Year-to-date comparable store sales decreased 5.7%. Year-to-date total sales decreased 5.2% to $1,880.1 million compared with $1,982.3 million for the same period last year.

Tony Buccina, Vice Chairman and President – Merchandising, commented, "As the weather became more seasonal, categories such as outerwear, cold-weather accessories, boots and seasonal soft home posted strong results. Our best performing businesses were children’s, outerwear, cosmetics and shoes. Our weakest businesses were furniture, petites, better and moderate sportswear. We are pleased with the initial customer response to our new lines from Victor Alfaro, Evan Picone, Relativity Career and Kenneth Roberts. Having ended the month with comparable store inventories down 10% from the prior year, we enter the important holiday season with fresh, well-focused inventories, and are positioned to react to trends and best sellers.”

Keith Plowman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, stated, "We ended September with excess borrowing capacity under our revolving credit facility of approximately $241 million, a slight increase from the end of August. We expect our excess borrowing capacity will continue to increase through the fall season.”

In a separate release dated October 7, 2008, Bon-Ton announced management will participate in the Wachovia 2008 Consumer Growth Conference in New York City at The Palace Hotel. Bud Bergren, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Keith Plowman are scheduled to present on Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The presentation will be available through a web broadcast on the Company’s website.

The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. operates 281 stores, including twelve 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, under the Parisian nameplate, stores in the Detroit, Michigan area. 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; consumer spending patterns and debt levels; 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 opening new stores or expanding or remodeling existing stores; the ability to attract and retain qualified management; the dependence upon vendor relationships; the ability to reduce SG&A expenses 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.