Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活), which operates bookstores, shopping malls and restaurants, yesterday said that it would continue to add stores in the Greater China market.
Eslite president Wu Wen-chieh (吳旻潔) told the annual shareholders’ meeting that the firm has taken root in Taiwan and that after extending its reach into Hong Kong in 2012, has transformed itself into a cultural creative brand in the Greater China area.
Wu said that the company is to continue to expand in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China, and operates a total of 46 outlets in the three markets by teaming up with cultural creative brands.
For the growing China market, Wu said that Eslite is planning to enter Shanghai by opening a store in the second half of this year after its first Chinese outlet was launched in Suzhou in November last year.
In addition, it is planning to open a store in Shenzhen in 2018, Wu said.
Eslite has three stores in Hong Kong.
Wu said that the company is studying the feasibility of opening more stores there.
While Eslite has closed two stores in Taipei’s Tianmu (天母) and Ximending (西門町) areas, and is to close another in the National Theater and another one in Hsinchu, Wu said the company has never changed its objective of continuing to grow in Taiwan.
Wu said that Eslite is determined to open new stores, including in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店), Taichung and Kaohsiung in the second half of this year.
Eslite chairman Wu Ching-yu (吳清友) said that the company has set its sights beyond the Greater China market, with the aim of opening stores in Japan and the US.
The chairman said that two property developers in Japan have made contact with Eslite.
Last year, Eslite reported sales of NT$3.82 billion (US$118.42 million at current exchange rates), up 9 percent from a year earlier, and made NT$412 million in net profit, up 11.6 percent from a year earlier, with earnings per share of NT$9.12.
Eslite said that with its efforts to expand, its revenue and earnings for this year are expected to grow accordingly.
Eslite shares gained 1.06 percent to close at NT$190 on Taipei’s over-the-counter market, which closed up 0.35 percent yesterday.
DAMAGE REPORT: Global central banks are assessing war-driven inflation risks as the law of unintended consequences careens around the world, spiking oil prices Central banks from Washington to London and from Jakarta to Taipei are about to make their first assessments of economic damage after more than two weeks of conflict between the US and Iran. Decisions this week encompassing every member of the G7 and eight of the world’s 10 most-traded currency jurisdictions are likely to confirm to investors that the specter of a new inflation shock is already worrying enough to prompt heightened caution. The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to do exactly what everyone anticipated weeks ahead of its March 17-18 policy gathering: hold rates steady. The narrative surrounding that
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) share of the global foundry market rose to almost 70 percent last year amid booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI), market information advisory firm TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said on Thursday. The contract chipmaker posted US$122.54 billion in revenue, up 36.1 percent from a year earlier, accounting for 69.9 percent of the global market, TrendForce said. Its share was up from 64.4 percent in 2024, it said. TSMC’s closest rival, Samsung Electronics, was a distant second, posting US$12.63 billion in sales, down 3.9 percent from a year earlier, for a 7.2 percent share of the global market. In the
At a massive shipyard in North Vancouver, Canadian workers grind metal beams for a powerful new icebreaker crucial to cementing the country’s presence in the increasingly contested arctic. Icebreakers are specialized, expensive vessels able to navigate in the frozen far north. And “this is the crown jewel,” said Eddie Schehr, vice president of production at the Seaspan shipyard. For Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who heads to Norway next Friday to observe arctic defense drills involving troops from 14 NATO states, Canada’s extreme north has emerged as a strategic priority. “Canada is and forever will be an Arctic nation,” he said ahead of
Chinese entrepreneur Frank Gao used to spend long hours running his social media accounts but now outsources the chore to artificial intelligence (AI) agent tool OpenClaw, which is taking China by storm despite official warnings over cybersecurity. OpenClaw, created in November by an Austrian coder, differs from bots such as ChatGPT because it can execute real-life tasks such as sending e-mails, organizing files or even booking flight tickets. “Since January, I’ve spent hours on the lobster every day,” Gao said in an interview, referring to OpenClaw’s red crustacean mascot. “We’re family.” After downloading OpenClaw, users connect it to artificial intelligence models of their
RSS