Tens of thousands of people bid farewell to the Eslite Dunnan bookstore, the world’s first 24-hour bookstore, in the run-up to its closure last month, and it was a sad moment.
Hopefully, Taiwanese will now join hands and launch a “one person, one book” campaign to make sure that the nation’s bookstores will remain open.
In Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) there is also an Eslite branch.
Five years ago, the National Central Library failed to see the Huwei Township Library’s need for an expansion, but Eslite Group saw that Huwei had the nation’s highest book borrowing rate at 2.5 books per person annually.
Eslite has since been part of the township’s growth. Located in a historic building, the company has turned what used to be the local fire department during the Japanese colonial era into one of its bookstores, creating a cherished place for the public and making residents of Yunlin proud.
Eslite is not only a bookstore chain, it is also a social enterprise. Eslite Dunnan can serve as an example: It was an attraction for culturally interested tourists who visited at night and was an incentive to plan a business trip for people from outside Taipei.
Huwei also attracts tourists to spend a night and visit the local Eslite branch, being a sign of the township’s progress.
Learning is the driving force behind growth and development.
The Huwei Township Library about six years ago extended its daily opening times to 12 hours from 8am to 8pm to attract tourists to visit in the evening, while also giving working parents a chance to visit with their children and borrow books, fostering the young generation’s reading habits.
Eslite Huwei is in one of the township’s four classified historical buildings. Unfortunately, the other three close to visitors at 5:30pm, and look bleak in the dark.
Despite its claims, the Yunlin County Government, operator of the three other sites, has failed to boost tourism.
Changes have to be made promptly to stimulate consumer spending around these cultural tourism spots, or it will be too late, and Eslite — a cultural beacon in the county — might close its Huwei branch.
If this happens, the dream of prosperity brought to the township by the bookstore will dissolve into an illusion, and tourists will stop coming.
What can local governments do to foster cooperation with companies such as Eslite that bring regional revitalization?
At a time when Eslite closes its branches one after another in an attempt to streamline operations, local governments must review their efforts and make adjustments when pushing regional revitalization projects.
Lin Wen-ping is a Yunlin County councilor.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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