Here is a view of the Eslite Bookstore located in Taichung, one of the 42 bookstores in Taiwan that are established by the franchise, Eslite Corp.
Since the company’s first bookstore opened in Taipei in 1989, the company undergone fast and steady expansion: opening on average two bookstores every year. Sales rose more than 15 percent in 2013 in its listed arm, and profits are rising, too. stretching its business to beyond just book selling, but including opening galleries, organizing exhibits, sponsoring theatrical performances and in recent years, involving itself in food service and hotel management businesses.
During its almost three decades of operation, Eslite has not only become the largest bookstore chain on the Taiwan island, but has changed Taiwanese’s way of consuming books and art products.
To prove that I am not overly exaggerating, here’s a New York Times story from earlier this year that features one of the largest Eslite bookstores in Taiwan, the Eslite Bookstore on Dunhua South Road in Taipei, also known as the 24-hour bookstore. The busiest hour for this bookstore is 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., an hour that when cool kids everywhere else are clubbin’, cool kids in Taipei are at reading at Eslite.
The Guardian says the reason behind Eslite being able to attract so many young people at an usually not very bookstore-friendly hour is their policy of allowing customers to stay as long as they want, no purchase required. The affordability makes this place attractive to students and young professionals who may shy away from spots with high cover charges or those that ask for 10 bucks to buy a drink.
However, despite the bookstore’s expansion and impact in Taiwan, Eslite hasn’t quite broadened its power outside of its birthplace. The only bookstore that the franchise opened outside of Taiwan is located in Hong Kong. And mainland China, a growing market, remained unexploited for Eslite. This was finally changed around 2010, when the idea of opening an Eslite bookstore in Suzhou, a South-Eastern Chinese city located only an-hour-train-ride away from Shanghai, was taken into discussion. But the actual opening of this bookstore has taken much longer time than expected.
In January 2012, China Daily reported that Suzhou Eslite bookstore will open in 2014. This didn’t happen.
The bookstore then set its opening date to Aug. 1, 2015. This date was later postponed to September. The bookstore’s page on Chinese version of yelp, dianping.com, has been up for a while, but the store still hasn’t officially opened. For all we know now, it could open in October, or maybe next year.
Many reasons might have affected Eslite’s launching schedule, but one of them could have something to do with negotiation with China’s book market censorship. Eslite is known in mainland as a popular travel destination in Taiwan because travelers can obtain books at Eslite that are banned in the mainland market. Opening bookstores in the mainland means publications in this category need to go, and with that, mainland readers’ interest in visiting the bookstore may also go down. That is a dilemma that Eslite has to consider.
Play with RMB 