Secaucus, New Jersey - January 4, 2001 - The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. (Nasdaq:PLCE), today announced that the Company is reorganizing its Merchandising Group and in conjunction with this reorganization has accepted the resignations of Clark Hinkley, Executive Vice President of Merchandising and Michael Zahn, General Merchandising Manager. Diane Timbanard, who has been with the Company since 1991, most recently as Vice President of Design, will become Vice President - General Merchandising Manager, a position she previously held. Nina Miner, Vice President of Trend Development, supervised the Company's design activities from 1990 to 1998. Ms. Miner will once again assume the Design responsibility in addition to her other duties.

Ezra Dabah, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "We thank Clark and Michael for their dedicated service and wish them well in their new endeavors. We have restructured the Merchandising Group and we have a very talented team to execute and maximize our highly successful formula. In light of our continued growth, we anticipate adding another senior executive to complement our strong management team."

The Children's Place Retail Stores, Inc. is a leading specialty retailer of high quality, value-priced apparel and accessories for children, newborn to age twelve. The Company designs, contracts to manufacture and sells its products under the "The Children's Place" brand name. The Company currently operates 400 stores in 43 states.

This press release and above reference call may contain certain forward-looking statements regarding future circumstances. These forward-looking statements are based upon the Company's current expectations and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in such forward-looking statements including, in particular, the risks and uncertainties described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results, events, and performance may differ. Readers or listeners (on the call) are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. We undertake no obligation to release publicly 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. The inclusion of any statement in this release does not constitute an admission by The Children's Place or any other person that the events or circumstances described in such statement are material.