Twelve of the 43 Weiner's stores in Houston will be closed, thecompany says. In addition, Weiner's is closing all four of itsstores in Little Rock, AR. Texas store closings include all fourstores in the Beaumont area, five of 13 in the Northeast, two offive in Corpus Christi and one of 10 in San Antonio. No stores willbe closed in Austin, Dallas-Ft. Worth, El Paso, the Rio GrandeValley or Southwest Texas. Stores in Mississippi and Alabama alsowill remain open, but a number of its Louisiana stores will be shutdown.

Weiner's has experienced operating losses through the first halfof fiscal 2000 fueled by significant declines in sales ofnationally branded goods, resulting in cash flow problems. "Whilewe are disappointed that we had to seek the bankruptcy court'sprotection, our cash-flow problems at the time we were purchasinginventory for the forthcoming holiday season made it necessary,"says Raymond J. Miller, Weiner's chairman and CEO. The company willsubstantially redesign its merchandising and marketing in early2001.

"Weiner's will be the only first-quality full product-line storeconveniently located in predominantly urban inner city markets. Weexpect this unique positioning to provide the company the abilityto profitably weather consumer-buying fads and market shifts,"Miller says.