Eslite

In 1989, a Taiwanese businessman decided to eschew corporate life to pursue his dream of opening a bookstore dedicated to the arts and humanities. Eslite opened in a small space outside of Taipei, championing creative pursuits and promoting what Wu called “a sophisticated, culturally diverse life”. Today, the Eslite brand encompasses not only of a chain of bookstores, but also an art gallery; a theatre and performance forum; a ‘Gourmet Group’ dealing in wine, foodstuffs, and professional kitchen equipment; to name just a few, all sharing the mantra to ‘bring good things to life’. The Hong Kong Eslite outpost is no exception: spanning three floors and more than 40,000 square feet of Hysan Place in Causeway Bay, the mega-store is a wonderland of printed offerings, offering hundreds of thousands of titles over one-third of which are English language.