Eslite Spectrum Corp (誠品生活), which runs the Eslite bookstore chain, yesterday said that it would close more outlets in Taiwan later this year as part of a business restructuring plan.
At this year’s annual general meeting, Eslite chairwoman Mercy Wu (吳旻潔) told shareholders that the company remains upbeat about the market, despite the announced closures.
Eslite would close its bookstore at Kaohsiung Medical University at the end of this month and its Shih Chien University bookstore in Taipei at the end of next month, Wu added.
Photo: CNA
The closures are a necessary part of efforts to restructure its business operations, she said.
The company on Tuesday announced the closure of its bookstore in Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) at the end of this month, when the building lease expires.
The 24-hour store on Dunhua S Road in Taipei is closing at the end of this month and the store in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) has been designated as the company’s new 24-hour outlet for a trial period starting tomorrow, the company said earlier.
The latest closures would leave Eslite with 38 bookstores in Taiwan by the end of next month.
Wu said that the company would close one or two more stores before the end of the year.
“It’s not about closing stores, but rather about finding the right locations,” Wu said. “Eslite is restructuring its business and mapping out a new expansion strategy to meet demand.”
Wu said that she is optimistic about the company’s business outlook, despite a decline in customers and bookstore sales in Taiwan and other countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eslite is in discussions with its landlords in Taiwan to reduce its rental payments and is applying for government subsidies to shore up its bottom line, she said.
In the first quarter of this year, Eslite reported a net profit of NT$7.13 million (US$237,429), a sharp decline from NT$79 million in the same period last year.
The company plans to open a store in a major business district in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, next year, which would be its first outlet in Southeast Asia, Wu said.
Eslite is also weighing the possibility of opening new bookstores in Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun in Hong Kong’s New Territories, she said.
Eslite also has bookstores in Japan and China.
SETBACK: Apple’s India iPhone push has been disrupted after Foxconn recalled hundreds of Chinese engineers, amid Beijing’s attempts to curb tech transfers Apple Inc assembly partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known internationally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has recalled about 300 Chinese engineers from a factory in India, the latest setback for the iPhone maker’s push to rapidly expand in the country. The extraction of Chinese workers from the factory of Yuzhan Technology (India) Private Ltd, a Hon Hai component unit, in southern Tamil Nadu state, is the second such move in a few months. The company has started flying in Taiwanese engineers to replace staff leaving, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named, as the
The prices of gasoline and diesel at domestic fuel stations are to rise NT$0.1 and NT$0.4 per liter this week respectively, after international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to rise to NT$27.3, NT$28.8 and NT$30.8 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to rise to NT$26.2 per liter at CPC stations and NT$26 at Formosa pumps, they said. The announcements came after international crude oil prices
A German company is putting used electric vehicle batteries to new use by stacking them into fridge-size units that homes and businesses can use to store their excess solar and wind energy. This week, the company Voltfang — which means “catching volts” — opened its first industrial site in Aachen, Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. With about 100 staff, Voltfang says it is the biggest facility of its kind in Europe in the budding sector of refurbishing lithium-ion batteries. Its CEO David Oudsandji hopes it would help Europe’s biggest economy ween itself off fossil fuels and increasingly rely on climate-friendly renewables. While
SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) is weighing whether to add a life insurance business to its portfolio, but would tread cautiously after completing three acquisitions in quick succession, president Stanley Chu (朱士廷) said yesterday. “We are carefully considering whether life insurance should play a role in SinoPac’s business map,” Chu told reporters ahead of an earnings conference. “Our priority is to ensure the success of the deals we have already made, even though we are tracking some possible targets.” Local media have reported that Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽), which is seeking buyers amid financial strains, has invited three financial
RSS