Eslite Bookstore () is one of the largest retail

bookstore Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librar ...

chains in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the no ...

. It also offers one of the largest selections of

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the i ...

publications and translation materials in Taiwan. Its headquarters is in Xinyi District, Taipei.

Brief history

Eslite was established in 1989 by Robert Wu Ching-yu. The first shop was located in Dunhua South Road, Daan District,

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

, with a focus and emphasis on art and

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...

-related books. Since then, the company has expanded and set up more shops and increased its range of titles on offer. Eslite Bookstore was the first to set up a 24-hour bookstore in Taiwan at its Dunhua store, attracting night-time readers. Eslite also expanded into retail, and opened up Eslite Mall.

Chronology

*1974: established Chen-Jian Corp, importing whole set

kitchenware :'' For a record label, see Kitchenware Records'' Kitchenware are the tools, utensils, appliances, dishes, and cookware used in food preparation, or the serving of food. Kitchenware can also be used in order to hold or store food before or af ...

. *1989: established Eslite Corp, first Eslite bookstore built at Taipei Dunhua South Road. *1996: established Eslite Retail Group. *2000: established Eslite Transportation Group, expanded to food and drinks, appliances, and online sales, established Eslite Global Network Corp. *2001: established Eslite Logistics Corp at Nankan, Taoyuan. *2002: Eslite Retail group and Transportation group combined into Life group, introduced Eslite's operation motto as ''humanity, art, creativity, and life''. *At midnight on 1 January 2006, Eslite's new flagship bookstore, located in Taipei's Xinyi District, opened for business. With about 8,000 m² of floor space, it became the largest bookstore in Taiwan.

Branches

Eslite has a total of 38 branches in Taiwan. Most of its target market are in urban areas, such as

New Taipei New Taipei City is a special municipality located in northern Taiwan. The city is home to an estimated population of 3,974,683 as of 2022, making it the most populous city of Taiwan, and also the second largest special municipality by area, b ...

Keelung Keelung () or Jilong () (; Hokkien Pe̍h-ōe-jī, POJ: '), officially known as Keelung City, is a major port Provincial city (Taiwan), city situated in the northeastern part of Taiwan. The city is a part of the Taipei–Keelung metropolitan a ...

Yilan Yilan may refer to: China * Yilan County, Heilongjiang (依兰县), county of central Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China * Yilan Town, Heilongjiang (依兰镇), seat of Yilan County * Yilan, Jilin (依兰镇), town in Yanji Taiwan ...

, Zhongli,

Hsinchu Hsinchu (, Chinese: 新竹, Pinyin: ''Xīnzhú'', Wade–Giles: ''Hsin¹-chu²'') is a city located in northwestern Taiwan. It is the most populous city in Taiwan Province not among the special municipalities, with estimated 450,655 inhabi ...

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of T ...

, Chiayi,

Tainan Tainan (), officially Tainan City, is a special municipality in southern Taiwan facing the Taiwan Strait on its western coast. Tainan is the oldest city on the island and also commonly known as the "Capital City" for its over 200 years of his ...

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City ( Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Ka ...

, and Pingtung. The first Eslite Bookstore outside Taiwan opened in Hysan Place in

Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is an area and a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern and the Wan Chai districts. It is a major shopping, leisure and cultural centre in Hong Kong, with a number of major shopping centres. Th ...

, Hong Kong in 2012. It sold 706,000 books in 2014. The company opened a second Hong Kong location at

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(Star Annex of Harbour City),

Tsim Sha Tsui Tsim Sha Tsui, often abbreviated as TST, is an urban area in southern Kowloon, Hong Kong. The area is administratively part of the Yau Tsim Mong District. Tsim Sha Tsui East is a piece of land reclaimed from the Hung Hom Bay now east of Tsi ...

in 2015. On 29 November 2015, Eslite Bookstore opened up its first branch in China in the city of

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trad ...

, Jiangsu. In 2022, Eslite opened its first bookstore in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

in the heart of

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Mal ...

on 17 December. It will be known under the name of Eslite Spectrum.

Related businesses

*Eslite Musicstore *Eslite Coffeehouse *Eslite Winery *Eslite Teahouse *Eslite Gallery, founded in 1989. It is one of Taiwan's most prestigious

contemporary art galleries A contemporary art gallery is normally a commercial art gallery operated by an art dealer which specializes in displaying for sale contemporary art, usually new works of art by living artists. This approach has been called the "Castelli Method" ...

Self-censorship controversy

In July 2014, Eslite Hong Kong pulled Tibet-related books off its shelves out of political concerns. Taiwanese media reported that Eslite Taiwan issued an in-company document prohibiting its workers from making comments about the company on social media without approval.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Companies based in Taipei Bookstores of Taiwan Taiwanese brands 1989 establishments in Taiwan