EXHIBIT 31.1 CERTIFICATION PURSUANT
TORULE 13a-14(a) UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 I, David M.  Meyer,  Chairman  of
the Board of  Directors  and Member of the Office of the Chief  Executive  of CPI Corp.,
 a Delaware Corporation, certify that: (1)
I
have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of CPI Corp.;  (2)
Based
on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or
omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the
circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the
period covered by this report;  (3)
Based
on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in
this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of
operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this
report;  (4)
The
registrants other certifying officers and I are responsible for establishing and
maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have:  (a)
designed
such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and
procedures to be designed under our supervisions, to ensure that material information
relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us
by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is
being prepared;  (b)
designed
such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over
financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance
regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial
statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
principles;  (c)
evaluated
the effectiveness of the registrants disclosure controls and procedures and
presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure
controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such
evaluations; and  (d)
disclosed
in this report any change in the registrants internal control over financial
reporting that occurred during the registrants most recent fiscal quarter (the
registrants fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrants
internal control over financial reporting; and  (5)
The
registrants other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based on our most
recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrants
auditors and the audit committee of registrants board of directors (or persons
fulfilling the equivalent functions):  (a)
all
significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal
control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the
registrants ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information;
and  (b)
any
fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a
significant role in the registrants internal control over financial reporting.  Date: June 8, 2005
    
    /s/ David M. Meyer
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      David M. Meyer
      Chairman of the Board of Directors and 
      Member of the Office of the Chief Executive