Estlite Spectrum Corp. officially closed the doors of its Xinyi operation on the night of Dec. 24, marking the end of 18 years of selling books at the landmark store in the glitzy Taipei district.
Eslite chair Mercy Wu (吳旻潔) led the final countdown with Eslite staff and a huge crowd outside the store from 10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
The Xinyi outlet contained Eslite's only 24-hour bookstore in Taipei. The company's Songyan store, located in the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, also in Xinyi District, will step up and take its place from Jan. 20, 2024, after renovation work is complete, Wu said.
However, the closure of the Xinyi store was still significant as it had been the world's largest brick-and-mortar retailer of traditional Chinese books.
