Taiwan's 24-hour book 'nightclubs'
It's midnight in the capital of Taiwan. While some people are slowly walking home through the neon-lit streets, or getting ready to hit the club scene, others are on their way to a more unusual nocturnal hangout -- a bookstore.
The Eslite store in central Taipei opens 24 hours and has more night owl visitors than most Western bookstores could dream of during their daytime hours.
Here, young and old sit side-by-side on small steps or around reading tables, deeply engrossed in literary worlds.
Others stand and some sit on the floor, all reading in hushed silence as soft classical music seeps out from the speakers.
The Eslite Group, that runs the five-storey store, opened its first branch in Taipei in 1989. Today, 25 years on, the company runs 42 stores in Taiwan, one in Hong Kong and has ambitious plans to expand in China.
The chain's rise comes at a time when bookstores in the United States and Europe are struggling to survive, with some forced to shut down due to growing pressure from online competitors like Amazon.
In the United Kingdom, a third of all independent bookstores have closed down in the last decade, according to the Booksellers Association.
And the last major book retailer in the US -- Barnes & Noble -- is shutting stores as its management struggles to meet the challenges from its digital rivals.
Eslite has hit upon a concept to dodge this trend -- making the store as much a place for books as it is for design, fashion and home styling, small cafes and restaurants.
It reported revenue of around $425 million in 2013, with books accounting for some 40 percent of sales, according to company spokesman Timothy Wang. Sales are expected to increase by almost eight percent this year.
Comments