Sonenshine Partners Advises drugstore.com on Forming a Strategic eCommerce Alliance with Luxottica
Company Press Release
December 14, 2009


New York, NY - Sonenshine Partners LLC today announced that it acted as exclusive financial advisor to drugstore.com, inc., (NASDAQ: DSCM) a leading online retailer of health, beauty, vision, and pharmacy products, on its strategic, multi-year ecommerce alliance with Luxottica Group S.p.A. (NYSE:LUX) to expand online access to contact lenses in the North American market.

Under this exclusive agreement, Vision Direct, Inc., a leading online contact lens retailer and a wholly-owned subsidiary of drugstore.com, will collaborate with Luxottica Group to develop branded, contact lens ecommerce sites for the company's North American business, and provide customer care and fulfillment services. The alliance will enable Luxottica, starting with its retail brands, to offer a comprehensive solution for consumers to conveniently purchase contact lenses in-person, by telephone or online. In addition the two companies will pursue synergies such as purchasing contact lenses on behalf of the alliance and plan to cooperate in a number of other related areas, including Luxottica's North America-based wholesale business.

About drugstore.com

drugstore.com, inc. (NASDAQ:DSCM) is a leading online retailer of health, beauty, vision and pharmacy products. The Company’s portfolio of brands include: drugstore.com™, Beauty.com™ and VisionDirect.com™. All are accessible from http://www.drugstore.com and provide a convenient, private, and informative shopping experience while offering a wide assortment of more than 45,000 products at competitive prices.

The drugstore.com pharmacy is certified by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) as a Verified Internet Pharmacy Practice Site (VIPPS) and operates in compliance with federal and state laws and regulations in the United States.

About Luxottica Group S.p.A.

Luxottica Group is a leader in premium fashion, luxury and sports eyewear, with over 6,150 optical and sun retail stores in North America, Asia-Pacific, China, South Africa and Europe and a strong and well balanced brand portfolio. Luxottica's key house brands include Ray-Ban, the best known sun eyewear brand in the world, Oakley, Vogue, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Arnette and REVO, while license brands include Bvlgari, Burberry, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Polo Ralph Lauren, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo, Tiffany and Versace. In addition to a global wholesale network covering 130 countries, the Group manages leading retail brands such as LensCrafters and Pearle Vision in North America, OPSM and Laubman & Pank in Australasia, LensCrafters in Greater China and Sunglass Hut globally. The Group's products are designed and manufactured in six Italy-based manufacturing plants, two wholly-owned plants in China and a sports sunglass production facility in the U.S. In 2008, Luxottica Group posted consolidated net sales of EUR 5.2 billion.