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Non-Tech : Garden Botanika (GBOT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StocksMTTM who wrote (31)	1/20/1999 11:16:00 PM
From: Bill Brown	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 44

TO ALL, NEWS RELEASE: Wednesday January 20, 7:02 pm Eastern Time Company Press Release Garden Botanika Initiates Restructuring Effort New President and Board Will Help Company Set New Priorities REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 1999--Garden Botanika, Inc. (Nasdaq/NMS:GBOT - news), the Redmond-based cosmetics and personal care products company, today announced a number of changes to its Board of Directors and senior management team, aimed at helping the Company improve sales and overall financial performance. The Company also announced it has retained the investment banking firm of McDonald Investments, Inc., as its financial advisor to assist in the consideration of strategic alternatives. As part of the company-wide reorganization effort, Michael Luce will step aside as President and CEO, but will remain as a member of the Board of Directors. Luce, who founded the Company and has held its top post since 1989, will be succeeded by Arlee Jensen, Garden Botanika's Senior Vice President for Marketing. Jensen will serve as acting president and CEO until a permanent successor is named. She and Chief Financial Officer George Newman will also join the Company's Board of Directors. The Company also announced the formation of an executive management committee headed up by Jensen and including Newman and Sue Walker, Garden Botanika's Vice President of Stores. Jensen and this committee are expected to make day-to-day decisions for the foreseeable future. With the assistance of McDonald Investments, Jensen said she and the Executive Committee look forward to reviewing all aspects of the Company's current operations as they work to reverse its declining performance over the past several quarters. ''We intend to aggressively reevaluate every aspect of our operation as we work to restructure the Garden Botanika brand and business to deliver the kind of results that we know are necessary,'' Jensen said.''The reorganization we are announcing today is a first step to get us back on track in this highly competitive industry.'' (a) In a separate and unrelated announcement the Company said directors Jeffrey Brotman and Dale Vogel have resigned their positions on the Board of Directors, although Brotman will be available to adivse the Company on an informal basis. Garden Botanika markets botanically-based cosmetic and personal care products through its 273 stores across the U.S. and its own catalog. (a) Forward-Looking Statements: When used in the above discussion in the context of future events, the words ''expects,'' ''anticipates,'' ''estimates,'' ''plans,'' ''believes,'' ''intends'' and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or trends to differ materially from those trends in comparable store sales, the effectiveness of the company's mailings in generating sales and the Company's ability to introduce new products, to close selected stores in a cost effective manner and/or to exploit commercial sales opportunities. See also the ''Risk Factors and Forward-Looking Statements'' section of the Company's annual report on form 10-K/A dated May 29, 1998, which has previously been filed with the undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to these forward looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Contact: Garden Botanika Arlee Jensen, 425/881-9603