Zhang Xiaoyi

    417880236@qq.com

    SHENZHEN is getting a high-end bookstore, already popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The store, known as Eslite, will open in Shenzhen in 2017.

    Eslite is a high-end bookstore brand created by Taiwanese Wu Ching-yu, who set up 42 outlets in Taiwan and one in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.

    Shenzhen’s Eslite will be located in a commercial center, China Resources City, near Nanshan High-tech Park, which will finish construction in 2017. By then it will be the third Eslite outlet on the Chinese mainland, with the first and second in Suzhou and Shanghai.

    The strategic collaboration reflects China Resources’ ambition to take a lead in building luxury commercial space and culture. The company said it will incorporate high-end commercial projects in China Resources City, an advanced version of The MixC, a current commercial center it developed in Luohu.

    This line of business finely fits the underlining idea of Eslite Corp., which is also aimed at building a high-end reading space.

    The locations Eslite chose in Shenzhen and Hong Kong display its stated goal of remaining high-end.

    Bookstores are becoming cultural spaces instead of a place to buy books.

    The Eslite business model is diversifying, the Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, incorporates restaurants and cafes.

    Another example is Fangsuo, a bookstore based in TaiKoo Hui in Guangzhou. Fangsuo is cultivating a high-end image and neighbors retail outlets for luxury brands like Hermes.

    Culture-related lectures are regularly held in Fangsuo. The store once had the blind poet and musician Zhou Yunpeng give a talk.

    Many bookstores throughout Shenzhen have turned to this business model.

    The most recent example is the Sisyphe Bookstore in Coco Park, which held a lecture by Wired magazine’s editor Kevin Kelly.

    The series of music events held at Old Heaven Bookstore at OCT-LOFT is another example of the pattern.

    Eslite Bookstore’s biggest outlet, which is in Taipei, adopts a 24-hour model, turning the bookstore into a sort of tourist attraction.

    An Eslite bookstore in Taiwan. File photo