YCC Yankee Cdle

The Yankee Candle Company, Inc. (NYSE:YCC), the leading designer, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of premium scented candles, announced today that Mike Thorne has joined the company as Senior Vice President, Wholesale Division. He assumed his responsibilities full time on June 19, 2006. Thorne joins Yankee Candle from Russell Corporation, a leading branded athletic and sporting goods company, where he was the President of the Bike and Athletic Team Division. Prior to joining Russell in 2005, he served as Vice President of Sales for the Spalding Division of Russell Corporation. Thorne also held numerous senior sales positions with Pentland LLC, Franklin Sporting Goods Company, and Wilson Sporting Goods. "Mike is a seasoned leader, who brings a strong track record of building independent and national account businesses" said Harlan Kent, President and Chief Operating Officer. "He has successfully built business teams that are customer centric and focused on account planning and customer marketing. He also has demonstrated his ability to build sales and profits in each of his assignments." "I am very excited to be joining Yankee Candle," said Mike Thorne. "We have a powerful brand and a talented team. I am confident we can continue to build our Wholesale Business in North America and abroad." About The Yankee Candle Company, Inc The Yankee Candle Company, Inc. is the leading designer, manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of premium scented candles, based on sales, in the giftware industry. Yankee has a 36-year history of offering distinctive products and marketing them as affordable luxuries and consumable gifts. The Company sells its products through a North American wholesale customer network of approximately 17,000 store locations, a growing base of Company owned and operated retail stores (381 located in 42 states as of April 1, 2006), direct mail catalogs, its Internet website (www.yankeecandle.com), international distributors and to a European wholesale customer network of approximately 2,300 store locations (through its distribution center located in Bristol, England). This press release may contain certain information constituting "forward-looking statements" for purposes of the safe harbor provisions of The Private Securities Litigation reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include but are not limited to any statements concerning the Company's or management's plans, objectives, goals, strategies, expectations, estimates, beliefs or projections, or any other statements concerning future performance or events. Actual results could differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the following: the current economic conditions in the United States as a whole and the continuing weakness in the retail environment; the risk that we will be unable to maintain our historical growth rate; the effects of competition from others in the highly competitive giftware industry; our ability to anticipate and react to industry trends and changes in consumer demand; our dependence upon our senior executive officers; the risk of loss of our manufacturing and distribution facilities; the impact on our stock price of seasonal, quarterly and other fluctuations in our business; and other factors described or contained in the Company's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q or Annual Report on Form 10-K on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update certain forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so even if experience or future events may cause the views contained in any forward-looking statements to change.