As the leading designer Ray Chen (陳瑞憲) said, every corner is proof of the ingenuity and care that went into designing this place in hopes of making bookstore shopping an interesting and unique experience.
Additionally, the new Xinyi branch is a hybrid of book retailing and activity management. It has function rooms for forums, halls suitable for various performances and exhibitions, as well as cooking studios for book launches and art-related activities.
"We want to establish a museum of reading and living," Wu said, adding that this branch is by no means Eslite's ultimate version, hinting at another big surprise in the years to come.
As exciting as it might sound, the bookstore chain has trodden a bumpy road since its establishment in 1989. In fact, it was in the red for 15 years before it started to make profits two years ago when Taiwan's reading trend turned mature.
Solid support
What's more important is the shareholders' solid support.
In addition to the Wu family's over 50 percent shareholding, Acer Inc's founder Stan Shih (施振榮), Taiwan High-Speed Rail Corp (台灣高鐵) chairwoman Nita Ing (殷琪), and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦) vice chairman Tung Tsu-hsien (童子賢) are among its distinguished shareholders.
Non-shareholder Lin Cheng-yi (林誠一), former chairman of Macoto Bank (誠泰銀行), which has been merged with Shin Kong Commercial Bank (新光銀行), also extended a hand in making loans to Eslite when it experienced financial difficulties in the aftermath of Typhoon Nari in 2001 and the SARS epidemic in 2003.
Now the Eslite group has expanded to 47 bookstores, seven department stores and six record shops nationwide.
Its total revenues last year were estimated to reach NT$9 billion, growing by 17 percent from 2004, with book sales accounting for one-third, or NT$3.1 billion, and making up 10 percent of the local market share.
With the mega branch opening doors for business, Wu is confident that the group can achieve NT$12 billion in sales by the end of this year. Net profits are forecast to double to NT$3 billion.
However, the company still has no plans to go public, as there is no need to raise capital, the chairman said.
Further expansion
An optimist by nature, Wu sees a rosy future for Taiwan's publishing industry although some express worry over the industry's decline, which has been adversely affected in part by the rise of the Internet.
"Buying books is not like consuming luxury goods; it would be less affected by economic variables, like the credit and cash-advance card storm," Wu said.
"The opening of the Xinyi branch would further drive growth in the industry as readers are growing as well," he said.
The company plans to extend its territory overseas by 2008, duplicating its successful experience to Chinese markets in Hong Kong, China or Singapore.
What's the momentum behind their long-time dedication?
Wu quoted what his colleagues said, "If you love yourself, you must love reading. If you love reading, you must love Eslite. If you love Eslite, then it's loving Taiwan!"
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