Orchard Supply Hardware Stores Corporation (NASDAQ: OSH) announced the planned opening of a new store in Torrance on September 1, 2012, marking the Company's 89th store in California. The South Bay store is located at 19330 Hawthorne Blvd, the site of a former K-Mart. From its beginnings in San Jose as a collective formed by farmers, Orchard first established stores in Northern California and then grew throughout the state.

The new Orchard store will showcase the company's innovations in home-and-garden retailing, featuring inventory that caters to the home repair, paint and garden needs of its local neighborhood, as well as enhanced customer service elements and a fresh look and feel to the store's layout and decor.

"We believe that Orchard occupies a unique and exciting position in today's retail landscape," said Orchard President and Chief Executive Officer Mark Baker. "We offer a welcoming, low-stress shopping experience, and a broad range of products that are carefully selected for the local neighborhood. We believe our formula will enable Orchard to 'own' the neighborhood market for home repair and maintenance, painting, and especially backyard living."

The Stores

With more than 80 years of experience serving California's customers, Orchard is rolling out a new store format that is exemplified by the 50,000 square foot South Bay store in Torrance. The 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, custom-cutting of rope, screens and other materials, and pipe threading. 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 offers direct access from the parking lot.

The South Bay store also features a distinctive new interior look, which is warm, functional and colorful, and reflects the company's deep California and agricultural roots. The new design was piloted at Orchard's San Jose Princeton Plaza store, which opened in September 2011, and which will be phased in across the store base over time.

What will not be changing is the Orchard approach to customer service. Store manager Fabrizio Villalobos has a strong retail background and previously managed Orchard's stores in Burbank and Midtown before taking the helm at the new location. The company believes shoppers desire knowledgeable, supportive sales staff for their home maintenance, decor and gardening projects; Orchard 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. As of July 28, 2012, the Company had 88 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.

Orchard
Rick Saunders, 408-365-2662 (Marketing)
or
PRx
Elisabeth Handler, 408-309-1298
elisabeth@prxinc.com