Taiwan's Eslite makes its debut in Suzhou

The newly opened Eslite Bookstore's first branch on the mainland is packed with customers on Sunday. Xu Congjun/For China Daily

Taiwan's Eslite Bookstore recently opened its first branch on the mainland, in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, going against a trend where physical bookstores are shutting down.

However, what Eslite has built in Suzhou is not only a bookstore but also a shopping complex, on either side of which are houses and apartments that Eslite has co-developed with Mitsubishi Estate. The prices of the houses range from 35,000 yuan ($5,500) per square meter to 75,000 yuan per sq m.

The bookstore, covering 15,000 sq m, takes up less than one-fourth of the total 56,000 sq m available on four floors of the building.

Designed by Taiwan architect Kris Yao, the Suzhou store has the Eslite touch.

The spacious bookstore is filled with books and cultural and creative products.

But unlike the store in Taipei, the Suzhou one will not be open 24 hours.

It has about 150,000 titles - 100,000 titles in simplified Chinese and about 50,000 imported titles.

Readers can also choose from among 200 titles recommended by Eslite.

The books are divided into five sections: tourism, lifestyle, art, humanities and Western literature. In the lifestyle section, a real kitchen has been built beside the culinary books.

Every week, there are also culinary activities at the store. Readers can also buy tea sets beside books related to tea.

The rest of the building has shops selling clothing, accessories and cultural and creative products, as well as restaurants.

"Please don't simplify physical bookstores. Please don't see Eslite simply as a bookstore," Wu Qing-you, the founder of Eslite, said at the launch ceremony.

Wu opened his first Eslite Bookstore in Taipei in 1989, focusing on humanities and art books.

Stores now also contain galleries and spaces for other art forms.