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Owners of Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc. Announce Policy to Meet Obligations to Deliver Product to All Customers

Furniture World Magazine

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An affiliate of Prentice Capital Management LP, the new owner of Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc., announced it has established a policy for purchases made by customers on or prior to their acquisition of the company's assets on December 16, 2005. Following that sale, a new company with a new owner was created that uses the Levitz brand name and that no longer operates under chapter 11 protection. Prior to both the October 11, 2005 bankruptcy filing and the closing of the sale on December 16, 2005, Levitz collected partial and full deposits from customers for future delivery of products. Although operating under the same name, Levitz is now a new company, with a new owner. Levitz' new owner has committed to filling these past orders and satisfying customers who have shown such loyalty to the brand through these difficult circumstances. As part of the policy, the new Levitz will not be providing refunds to customers for deposits paid on or prior to the December 16, 2005 sale date. However, the new Levitz will honor all these outstanding customer deposits by ordering and delivering the original merchandise ordered, or permitting customers to use their deposit as a store credit towards the purchase of alternative merchandise. "We are pleased to be able to offer this policy to the valued customers of Levitz who paid the company prior to our acquisition of the company's assets," said Jonathan Duskin, Managing Director of Prentice Capital Management LP. "We are aware of the losses that groups such as investors, suppliers and lenders have suffered as a result of this restructuring, and are also aware of the great loyalty customers have shown to the Levitz brand through these difficult times. We are pleased to be in a position to provide customers who placed deposits with the old company prior to the December 16, 2005 acquisition with those products they ordered as those products become available from suppliers. To facilitate the rapid flow of products to customers, the new Levitz recently announced that it has entered into a new $55 million credit facility with GE Commercial Finance effective upon closing of the sale to Prentice Capital, and that Prentice has provided an additional $50 million in funding to the Company. As previously disclosed, on October 11, 2005 Levitz announced that it filed for protection under chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the Southern District of New York. The case number for Levitz's filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is Case No. 05- 45189, and the Court's web site is http://www.nysb.uscourts.gov/. About Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc.: Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc. is a leading specialty retailer of furniture in the United States with 79 locations in major metropolitan areas, principally the Northeast and on the West Coast of the United States. Additional information about the company and its brands is available at http://www.levitz.com/ About Prentice Capital Management LP: Prentice Capital Management LP is a New York-based money management organization with over $1 billion under management, primarily in the retail/consumer sector. This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the company's current expectations with respect to future market conditions, future operating results, the future performance of its operations, and other plans. Words such as "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "believes," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "shall," and similar expressions typically identify such forward-looking statements. Even though Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc. believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, operational difficulties, varying market conditions, government regulations, and other factors. The forward-looking statements speak only as of the date when made and Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc. expressly disclaims any current intention to update these forward-looking statements.