Contact: Anthony P. Costa                                  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
         Chairman and Chief Executive Officer   Press Release dated July 1, 2008
         (866) 646-0003


                               ES Bancshares, Inc.
         Announces Reduction in Exercise Price and Extension of Term of
                  Common Stock Purchase Warrants and Reduction
                     in Exercise Price of Organizer Warrants

     Newburgh,  New York- (July 1, 2008) ES  Bancshares,  Inc.  (the  "Company")
(OTCBB:  ESBS) announced today that effective June 30, 2008, it has modified the
terms of its 327,690  outstanding  Common Stock  Purchase  Warrants (the "Common
Stock Warrants") (OTCBB:  ESBSW) to purchase Company Common Stock. The Board has
reduced the exercise price of the Common Stock Warrants from $10.00 to $6.75. As
was previously announced,  the Board extended the expiration term of such Common
Stock Warrants from June 28, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. New York time to October 31, 2008
at 5:00 p.m. New York time.

     The Common Stock  Warrants were  originally  issued in connection  with the
initial  public  offering on April 28, 2004.  Each purchaser in the offering was
provided with a Common Stock Warrant to purchase one share for every five shares
purchased.  On April 15, 2007 the Board extended the original expiration term of
the  Company's  Common  Stock  Warrants  from June 28, 2007 to June 28, 2008 and
reduced the original  exercise price of the Company's Common Stock Warrants from
$12.50 to $10.00.

     The Company also announced that effective June 30, 2008, it had reduced the
exercise  price of its  190,000  Organizer  Warrants  from $10.00 to $6.75 for a
period  ending on October 31, 2008 after  which the  exercise  price will revert
back to $10.00 per share. The Organizer Warrants, which had an original exercise
price of $10.00 per share and expiration  date of June 28, 2009, were granted to
its 19 organizers in connection with the opening of Empire State Bank.

     Anthony P. Costa,  Chairman and Chief Executive  Officer indicated that "we
believe  that  reducing  the  exercise  price of the Common  Stock  Warrants and
extending the maturity are appropriate given today's adverse market  conditions.
In  addition,  the Board of Directors  believes  that these  modifications  will
increase the value of the Common Stock Warrants,  the vast majority of which are
held by our stockholders.  Finally,  the modifications  will make it more likely
that such Warrants are  exercised,  thus  increasing  capital of the Company and
facilitating  the  implementation  of our  business  plan to grow the  Company's
assets and liabilities."

     Philip Guarnieri, President and Chief Operating Officer commented that "the
Board of Directors reduced the exercise price of our Organizer Warrants by $3.25
in  recognition  of the $5.75  aggregate  reduction in the exercise price of the
Common Stock Warrants,  the continued  valuable role played by the organizers in
Empire State Bank and the Company's need for  additional  capital to support its
business  plan.  In this  regard,  I would note that the  Company was advised by
several  different  investment  bankers that reducing the exercise  price of the
warrants would be the least expensive way to raise a modest amount of capital in
the current market environment."



     The Company has engaged  American  Stock  Transfer and Trust Company as its
Exchange Agent to facilitate the exchange of warrant certificates to reflect the
new terms.  Warrant  holders  will be receiving  instructions  shortly on how to
effectuate the exchange.

     The  Company  is the  holding  company  for  Empire  State  Bank,  N.A.,  a
full-service, community-oriented commercial bank providing financial services to
individuals,  families and  businesses  in and around the Town of Newburgh,  the
Village of New Paltz and the borough of Staten Island.

     This  release  contains  "forward-looking  statements"  as  defined  in the
Private  Securities  Litigation  Reform Act of 1995. A variety of factors  could
cause ES Bancshares,  Inc.'s actual results to differ from those expected at the
time of this release  including  changes in the market price of our common stock
and in stock  prices  generally,  competition,  changes  in  general  and  local
economic  conditions,  changes in interest  rates,  our ability to  successfully
carry out our plan and  regulatory  concerns.  Investors  are urged to carefully
review and consider the various  disclosures in our periodic  reports filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the most recently  ended fiscal year.  Copies of these filings are available
at no cost on the  SEC's  web site at  http://www.sec.gov  or on ES  Bancshares,
Inc.'s web site at http://www.esbna.com.