Hometown Auto Retailers Appoints New Chief Financial Officer

    WATERTOWN, Conn.--Feb. 7, 2002--Hometown Auto Retailers (OTC BB: HCAR) Thursday announced that it has named Charles F. Schwartz as the company's new chief financial officer (CFO).
    Schwartz replaces acting-CFO John Stavola, who will remain with Hometown as chief accounting officer.
    "We are excited to announce Chuck's appointment as Hometown's new CFO," said Corey Shaker, chief executive officer for Hometown Auto Retailers. "His depth of experience with publicly traded companies, knowledge of SEC issues and reporting requirements, and his background with mergers and acquisitions will be instrumental in helping Hometown continue to move forward.
    "We are also pleased that John Stavola will remain with the company, which helps to maintain the consistency our shareholders have come to appreciate from our company."
    Prior to his role at Hometown, Schwartz was the vice president and chief financial officer for Staples Communications, a $155 million company, and nationwide integrator of communications solutions. With Staples, Schwartz managed the accounting, billing, budgeting, collections, financial analysis and purchasing functions of the company.
    Schwartz also served as the senior vice president, CFO and chief of staff for publicly traded, People's Choice TV Corp. from 1993-2000. At People's Choice he directed the accounting, financial analysis, budgeting, human resources, risk management, purchase and IT functions for the company during periods of high growth.
    He was responsible for the financial due diligence of four acquisitions totaling $133 million and was directly involved in the company's $500 million merger with Sprint Corp.
    From 1989-1993, Schwartz served as chief financial and accounting officer for Jimbo's Jumbos, a publicly traded $90 million company, where he helped to successfully complete the company's initial public offering. He has also held various positions with Chock Full O' Nuts Corp., Interpublic Group of Companies, CBS Toys, and Grant Thornton.
    "Hometown has an established and reputable history as one of the leading automotive dealership groups in the East," Schwartz said. "I am excited to join the company at a time when Hometown is showing positive growth, and I am confident that my knowledge and experience will prove beneficial to the company and the management team."
    Schwartz is a certified public accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York Society of Certified Public Accountants. He received a bachelor's degree in accounting from Bernard M. Baruch College in New York City.

    About Hometown

    Hometown Auto Retailers (www.htauto.com) sells new and used cars and light trucks, provides maintenance and repair services, sells replacement parts and provides related financing, insurance and service contracts through 10 franchised dealerships located in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont.
    The company's dealerships offer 13 American and Asian automotive brands, including Chevrolet, Chrysler, Daewoo, Dodge, Ford, Isuzu, Jeep, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury, Oldsmobile, Plymouth and Toyota.
    Hometown is also active in two "niche" segments of the automotive market: the sale of Lincoln Town Cars and limousines to livery car and livery fleet operators and the maintenance and repair of cars and trucks at a Ford and Lincoln Mercury factory authorized free-standing service center.

    This release contains "forward-looking statements" based on current expectations but involving known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results or achievements may be materially different from those expressed or implied.
    The company's plans and objectives are based on assumptions involving judgments with respect to future economic, competitive and market conditions, its ability to consummate, and the timing of, acquisitions and future business decisions, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of which are beyond the control of the company.
    Therefore, there can be no assurance than any forward-looking statement will prove to be accurate.