Eslite set to open new store in Taipei Main Station area in September

Taipei, May 28 (CNA) Eslite Spectrum Corp., which runs the Eslite bookstore chain and other businesses at home and abroad, is set to return to the Taipei Main Station area in September and open a medium-sized bookstore, the company's chairwoman announced Tuesday.

The new store will occupy 2,645 square meters in a building located at the intersection of Zhongxiao West Road and Gongyuan Road, Mercy Wu (吳旻潔), the chairwoman of the Taipei-based conglomerate said at a shareholder meeting.

The new outlet will feature a bookstore alongside food and beverage outlets, she added.

Due to the negative impact of COVID-19 on its operations, Eslite shuttered its store in the underground K zone of the station in the first quarter of 2023. Three years earlier a different Eslite store in the station also closed.

The new store set to open in September will be adjacent to the Taipei Main Station MRT station, Wu noted.

Last year, Eslite's total end-point revenue -- its annual revenue from all sources -- grew by 30 percent to hit a record high of NT$22.6 billion (US$702.26 million), Wu said.

This year, the company's percentage revenue growth is expected to be in the double digits, she added.

However, its annual net loss after tax last year was NT$129 million, which meant a net loss of NT$2.73 per share, Wu said, adding this was partly due to the cost of setting up two new outlets.

Eslite opened its largest branch in Asia at the Yes!Life (Yulon City) mall in New Taipei's Xindian District in September last year and a new store in Taichung on March 23.

The Xindian branch is the group's first-ever store to report revenue of more than NT$4 billion in one year, she said.

The company's Taichung outlet is expected to begin making a profit in the third quarter of this year, she added.

Wu expressed optimism that all the company's stores would be profitable in 2025.

However, she said challenges to achieving that include a delay in the opening of the company's Tainan store and the lackluster performance of its Hong Kong outlets.