Prospectus Supplement No. 4                     Filed Pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3)
Dated March 12, 2003                                  Registration No. 333-98741
(to Prospectus dated October 2, 2002)                        Cusip No. 161133AC7

                                  $150,000,000

                             CHARMING SHOPPES, INC.

                   4.75% Senior Convertible Notes due 2012 and
             the Common Stock issuable upon conversion of the Notes

                              --------------------

         The following table supplements the information set forth on pages 33
to 36 in the prospectus under Selling Securityholders with respect to the
selling securityholders and the principal amount of notes beneficially owned by
such selling securityholders that may be offered and sold pursuant to the
prospectus dated October 2, 2002, as previously supplemented. This prospectus
supplement is not complete without, and may not be delivered or utilized except
in connection with, the prospectus and any previous prospectus supplements.




                                 Principal Amount                       Number of            Number of         Percentage
                                  At Maturity of                        Shares of             Shares of         of Common
                                Notes Beneficially   Percentage       Common Stock          Common Stock          Stock
                                  Owned that May      of Notes         Owned Prior            that May         Outstanding
             Name                    Be Sold         Outstanding     to the Offering        Be Sold (1)            (2)
------------------------------- ------------------- -------------- -------------------- --------------------- --------------

                                                                                                    
CENEX Pension Plan                   $ 45,000             *               4,555                4,555                *

FIST - Franklin Convertible
  Securities Fund                     800,000             *              80,972               80,972                *

XAVEX Convertible Arbitrage #5        350,000             *              35,425               35,425                *

Zurich Institutional
  Benchmarks Master Fund Ltd.           5,000             *                 506                  506                *

-------------------------------
* Less than 1%


(1)      Assumes conversion of all of the holder's notes at a conversion price
         of $9.88. However, this conversion price is subject to adjustment as
         described under "Description of Notes-Conversion of Notes." As a
         result, the amount of common stock issuable upon conversion of the
         notes may increase or decrease in the future.

(2)      Calculated based on Rule 13d-3(d)(i) of the Exchange Act using
         112,763,060 shares of common stock outstanding as of September 18,
         2002. In calculating this amount, we treated as outstanding the number
         of shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of that particular
         holder's notes. However, we did not assume the conversion of any other
         holder's notes.



     Because the selling securityholders listed above and in the prospectus
under the caption Selling Securityholders may, pursuant to the prospectus, as
supplemented, offer all or some portion of the notes, no estimate can be given
as to the amount of notes that will be held by the selling securityholders upon
termination of any such sales.

     Furthermore, the selling securityholders identified in the table set forth
in the prospectus under the caption Selling Securityholders may have sold,
transferred or otherwise disposed of all or a portion of their notes or common
stock since the date on which they provided us with information regarding their
notes or common stock, and we have not made any independent inquiries as to the
foregoing.