Eslite chair says closure of 24-hour Xinyi store 'not the end of an era'

Taipei, Dec. 24 (CNA) The chair of Eslite Spectrum Corp. said Sunday that the closure of the company's 24-hour bookstore in Taipei's Xinyi district after 18 years was "far from the end of an era," thanks to the generations of readers nurtured by the outlet.

At a press conference held at the Xinyi store, Mercy Wu (吳旻潔) said around one million people had visited the world's largest brick-and-mortar retailer of traditional Chinese books in December.

This included over 75,000 who visited the store on its penultimate day of operations Saturday, Wu added.

The Xinyi store will officially close its doors at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, and Wu said she will be present for the final goodbye.

Eslite's Songyan outlet, located in the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park in Taipei, will succeed the Xinyi outlet in staying open 24 hours a day from Jan. 20, 2024.

In the meantime, Wu said the Eslite bookstore on the fifth floor of the Nanxi store in Taipei's Zhongshan District will run around the clock to bridge the gap.

Eslite is leaving its Xinyi premises after landlord Uni-President Group -- which plans to transform the store into a shopping mall called "Dream Plaza" -- declined to renew the book seller's lease.

Wu said she came to the Xinyi store every day to see messages left by customers, of which the top keywords were "youth" and "companionship," drawing a different picture of the store's customers from that of the Dunnan store, which closed in 2020.

Comparing the two stores, Wu said customers at the Dunnan store were mostly in their 50s -- "which made me feel like a little girl" -- while many at the Xinyi store were in their 20s and 30s.

"If the Dunnan store offers the public a place to pursue knowledge, I think the Xinyi store provides them with intellectual companionship," Wu added.

Wu said she was present for the beginning and end of the Xinyi store, adding she was very thankful to Kao Chin-yen (高清愿), founder and honorary chairman of Uni-President Enterprises Corporation, for his support and trust in Eslite.

Highlighting a message left by a customer expressing hope that "Taiwan will become an island of reading habits," Wu said she took comfort knowing "such a remark does not come from a senior who holds a magnifying glass to read.

"This is a big motivation for [Eslite] continuing to run 24-hour bookstores in the future."

Eslite's Songyan store will undergo a renovation that will see its book inventory expanded threefold, equivalent to the scale of its Dunnan store, with the book themes and categories to be rearranged.

Wu said she hoped the Songyan outlet would become a bridge between generations, adding that its bookstore, cinema, handmade stores and café, among other offerings, provided a comprehensive vision of the company's future.

Eslite began its 24-hour operation at its Dunnan store in 1999. That "mission" was taken over by the Xinyi store from May 29, 2020, until Sunday.

Since its opening in 2006, the Xinyi store has attracted 200 million visits and written its story with over 2,000 staffers, Eslite stated, adding that quite a few well-known authors, artists and entertainers from Taiwan and abroad have left their marks and made the store a significant cultural hub.

Literary heavyweights such as Chiang Hsun (蔣勳), Chi Pang-yuan (齊邦媛), Pai Hsien-yung (白先勇) and Chang Ta-chun (張大春), have held seminars for their new books at the Xinyi store, according to Eslite.

In addition, rock star Wu Bai (伍佰), singer Bobby Chen (陳昇), band Sodagreen (蘇打綠), and Hong Kong British singer Karen Mok (莫文蔚) have performed there.

As for foreign celebrities, Japanese Nobel Laureate Kenzaburō Ōe, artist Mika Ninagawa, novelist Banana Yoshimoto, and Japanese American photographer Michael Yamashita, are just a few of the names to make appearances at the Xinyi store.

Wu said that with Eslite's lease at Songyan not set to expire until 2033, readers could rest easy its 24-hour operations would continue.

In addition, Eslite will choose some of its stores in Taiwan and overseas to run 24 hours a day on weekends for promotional activities.