Orchard to Re-Launch West Los Angeles Store with All-New Look and Feel, Saturday, Oct. 20

Orchard to Re-Launch West Los Angeles Store with All-New Look and Feel, Saturday, Oct. 20

New Store Format Highlights Orchard's Unique Market Positioning

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corporation (NAS: OSH) today announced the planned grand reopening of its expanded West Los Angeles store on Saturday, October 20, 2012, marking the continuing rollout of its innovative, neighborhood store format. Although the West Los Angeles store (2020 S. Bundy Drive) has been operational since its opening in 1994, the transformation of the store inside and out is so dramatic that Orchard executives and sales associates view this re-launch as a new store opening.

"The West Los Angeles location has been a great performer for Orchard, and we believe this expanded and enhanced store will enable us to better serve the home improvement needs of our local customers," said Mark Baker, Orchard Supply Hardware President and CEO. "We have fully transformed the interior and nursery to reflect our innovative, new neighborhood store format, while also nearly doubling the number of parking spaces available for customers."

The West Los Angeles store will have its selling space expanded by the merchandising of a mezzanine. In addition, the nursery will also be expanded, featuring greatly improved aesthetics and providing greater access for customers from the parking lot.

The new stores that Orchard is opening and the existing locations it is upgrading are expected to help the company take advantage of the "white space" between small, independently owned hardware stores and big box home-improvement stores. By the end of 2012, Orchard plans to have 12 stores operating in its new, productive neighborhood store format.

Beginning in San Jose as a collective formed by farmers, Orchard's network of retail stores began in Northern California and then grew throughout the state, with its 89th store opening in Torrance last month. The West Los Angeles store on Bundy will showcase the new design and merchandise assortment tailored to home repair, paint and garden needs in its local neighborhood. The new design also features a shopper-friendly "racetrack" design that replaces the old-fashioned store-length aisles with a neighborhood configuration, color coding and decor that sets Orchard apart from warehouse stores.

With more than 80 years of experience serving California's customers, Orchard's new store format is focused on building relationships and giving customers a pleasant and productive shopping experience. The new design was piloted at Orchard's San Jose Princeton Plaza store, which opened in September 2011. The Princeton Plaza location is one of Orchard's most successful stores; customers love the enhanced shopping experience and the store has proven to be highly productive.

The Redesigned Stores

The new layout is based on a race-track configuration, which maximizes traffic flow and helps the customer find items quickly. The store also features an expanded and centralized customer-service area referred to as the "Workbench," where customers get assistance with basic hardware needs such as tool and knife sharpening, rescreening, lock rekeying, pipe threading, and cutting just the size of pipe, conduit, chain, cable or rope you need.

Additionally, an enlarged paint area highlights Orchard's expansive, high quality Benjamin Moore™ paint selection and a spacious indoor/outdoor nursery and garden supply area that offers direct access from the parking lot. The redesigned stores also feature a distinctive new interior look, which is warm, functional and colorful, and reflects the company's deep California and agricultural roots.

What will not be changing is the company's approach to customer service, exemplified by store manager Willie Winston. Orchard believes shoppers desire knowledgeable, supportive sales staff for their home repair, paint and gardening projects, and the company invests in sales associates with extensive expertise and the desire to help. Mark Baker refers to store managers as the CEOs of their stores, and empowers them to make decisions to enhance the shopping environment and customer service experience.

About Orchard

Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corporation is a neighborhood hardware and garden store focused on paint, repair and the backyard. Founded as a purchasing cooperative in San Jose in 1931, today the stores average 44,000 square feet of enclosed retail space and 8,000 square feet of exterior nursery and garden space, carrying a broad assortment of merchandise for repair, maintenance and improvement needs for the home and backyard. Orchard Supply Hardware is newly independent and trades on Nasdaq under the symbol "OSH." As of October 12, 2012, the Company had 89 stores in California.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:

This press release (including information incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference herein) contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are those involving future events and future results that are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections as well as the current beliefs and assumptions of the Company's management. Words such as "guidance", "outlook", "believes", "expects", "appears", "may", "will", "should", "intend", "target", "projects", "estimates", "plans", "forecast", "is likely to", "anticipates", or the negative thereof or comparable terminology, are intended to identify such forward looking statements. Any statement that is not a historical fact, and other estimates, projections, future trends and the outcome of events that have not yet occurred referenced in this press release, is a forward-looking statement. Forward-looking statements are only predictions and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, factors discussed under the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Many of such factors relate to events and circumstances that are beyond the Company's control. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not assume any obligation to update the information contained in this press release.

RELEASE AND IMAGES: http://prez.ly/Zzc

PRx Digital
Elisabeth Handler, cell: 408-309-1298
elisabeth@prxinc.com
or
Orchard Supply Hardware
Rick Saunders, cell: 408-365-2662
rick.saunders@osh.com

KEYWORDS: United States North America California

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:

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