Brown Shoe Company, Inc. reported retail sales at Famous Footwear increased 2.2% for the five-week period ended January 3, 2004 to $111,900,000 compared to $109,500,000 for the same period last year (ended January 4, 2003). Same-store sales declined slightly by 0.2%.

“Sales momentum at Famous Footwear strengthened during the last two weeks of the month. The chain benefited from an increase in athletic sales, driven by fashion/retro athletics, and sales of women's dress shoes,” said Brown Shoe Chairman and CEO Ron Fromm. “Same-store sales ended down slightly due to difficult traffic early in the month, however margin dollars were substantially in line with our expectations.”

Year-to-Date Results

Year-to-date sales for Famous Footwear were up 0.1 percent to
$1,018,100,000 compared to $1,017,500,000 for the same 48-week period last
year, with same-store sales down 2.2 percent.

Full-Year Guidance

“Overall, our business continues strong and we are on target to achieve
planned earnings, before special charges, in a difficult retail environment,”
Fromm said. In order to more clearly display the components of the Company's
estimated results for 2003, the following reconciliation is provided: 

        EPS guidance - GAAP                            $2.50
        Special charge to close Canadian factory         .22
        Provision for Redfield litigation                .03
        EPS guidance, excluding special charges        $2.75

“Our earnings estimate, excluding the special charges outlined above,
continues to hold at our previous guidance of $2.75 per share,” he added.

On December 8th, Brown Shoe announced that it would close its last
remaining manufacturing facility in North America (Perth, Ontario) and take an
aftertax charge of $3.8-$4.2 million, or $0.20-$0.22 per share in order to
cover severance payments and the write-down of materials. That same day, the
Company also announced that a Colorado State Court jury in Denver had returned
a verdict against Brown of $1.0 million pretax, ($.7 million aftertax or
$0.03 per share), for damages in a class action environmental contamination
case. Such amount does not reflect any interest that may be included in a
final judgment, or the legal costs of other parties that the Company has been
ordered to pay related to this litigation. At this time, such amounts have
not been determined, and have not been included in the above guidance, but are
not expected to have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial
position. 

                    MONTH AND YEAR-TO-DATE SALES (millions)
                   FY 2003   FY 2002      %   Same-Store    Stores Open
                  (1/03/04) (1/04/03)  Change  % Change 1/03/04 vs. 1/04/03
    Dec. -Famous
     Footwear      $111.9    $109.5      2.2    (0.2)     904         923
    Y-T-D -Famous
      Footwear     1,018.1   1,017.5      0.1    (2.2)

    Dec. -
     Naturalizer     $12.1      12.6     (4.0)    2.1     210         231
    Y-T-D -
     Naturalizer     114.9     127.6    (10.0)    1.2

    Store openings for the month
    -- Famous Footwear opened one store in Mesquite, TX during December.