Eslite, one of Taiwan’s major bookstore and lifestyle companies, has established two stores and created nearly 200 job opportunities in Hong Kong since its first opening in 2012.
The company’s unique hybrid business model has proven popular among Hong Kong customers during a time rival chains have been foundering and closing stores.
After the first opening of its book-and-lifestyle operation in Hysan Place in Causeway Bay, a prominent shopping destination in Hong Kong, the company has recently further expanded into Tsim Sha Tsui, an area popular with overseas and Mainland visitors. The move tapped into the growing interest in products and handcrafts from Taiwan.
The Tsim Sha Tsui store covers close to 40,000 sqft and features a range of products including fashion accessories, ceramics, jewellery, educational toys, beauty products and food products, to name a few.
“The experience at the two megastores is each distinctive,” Allen Su, VP of Eslite Hong Kong, told InvestHK’s newsletter Foreign Direct Investment.
“While Eslite Causeway Bay is one of the largest bookstores in Hong Kong, containing the entire collection of our books, the new store at Tsim Sha Tsui features over 40 brands selling lifestyle items. These two main lines of products complement each other and add variety and interaction when customers wander among books and non-book items, producing a new kind of reading experience.”
Hybrid Strategy
Eslite’s hybrid strategy has been successful in attracting many retail brands, both from Taiwan and overseas; also it provides an established platform and excellent venue management support for these new entrants to the Hong Kong market.
“During its inception, Eslite established its hybrid retail strategy by injecting rich cultural content into different aspects of our operation. This has led to the addition of bookstores, galleries, art and event spaces, creative platforms into our business scope,” Su explained.
“Reading is at the root of eslite. Our journey begins with reading. We try to interpret the meaning of reading in broader terms, and to extend the imagination from reading to various aspects of life. At the same time, the diversified atmosphere from bookstores brings people a more cultural creative lifestyle.” he said.
InvestHK has been providing support to Eslite since the early days of its expansion into Hong Kong. The department continues to offer facilitation and advisory services to the new tenants who have been introduced to Hong Kong through the new eslite stores. These services included information on the retail sector, introduction to service providers, advice on expatriate relocation and recruitment of local staff.
Founded by Robert Wu in 1989 Eslite operates 43 stores in Taiwan, two stores in Hong Kong and one store in Mainland China.
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