Brown Shoe Declares Regular Quarterly Dividend

ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI May 25, 2000 -- The Board of Directors of Brown Shoe Company, Inc. (NYSE: BWS) today declared a quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share, payable July 1, 2000 to shareholders of record on June 5, 2000.

This dividend will be the 310th consecutive quarterly dividend paid by the company.

Brown Shoe Company, Inc. is a $1.6 billion footwear company with worldwide operations. The company operates the Famous Footwear, Naturalizer and F. X. LaSalle chains of footwear retail stores and markets leading brands including Naturalizer, LifeStride, NaturalSport, Buster Brown, and licensed brands including Dr. Scholl's, Barbie, Digimon, Rugrats and Sammy Sosa footwear.

Brown Shoe press releases are available by fax through PR Newswire's Company News On-Call fax service at 800-758-5804, extension 109435. Brown Shoe information also is available on the company's web site at http://www.brownshoe.com.

Contact: Beth Fagan
Vice President, Public Affairs
314-854-4093