Eslite Bookstore, Xinyi Taipei

To call Eslite just a bookstore is a huge understatement. It’s more like a lifestyle store with everything from food, bags, shoes, houseware and gadgets.

When Eslite opened their first 24-hour bookstore 17 years ago, they started a trend. The latest XinYi Store is eight stories and 7,500 pings large and has adopted an even more international and unique style that surprises visitors with what a bookstore is capable of. Situated near the Taipei City Hall MRT Station, this new store intends to become “Taiwan’s cultural window to the world”. The second-to-fourth-floor bookstore has a collection of over a million books, making it the biggest in Taiwan. It also introduced a new concept of shops within a bookstore, with a Japanese bookstore, simplified Chinese bookstore, arts bookstore and many other outlets. There is a wide range of English and Chinese books, as well as audio/visual equipment in a specialized department. Other floors offerings include the first-floor Design and Living Floor; an almost 200-ping-large children’s bookstore and children’s discovery museum on the fifth floor; the Eslite Culture sixth floor with a theme restaurant for speeches and activities; a B1 level mainly selling young trendy designer items; and a B2 level offering snacks and exotic foods, as well as vegetarian dishes, to fill browsers’ stomachs. The Eslite XinYi Store is a whole new world of possibilities. from TaiwanFun.com

Porter bags

There were lots of snack items but all were labelled in Chinese so I didn’t know exactly what most of it were.

In today’s market where ebooks are gaining ground and some brick and mortar bookstores have downsized Eslite’s books are still fully stocked with all the subjects you can imagine. Even obscure topics and international subjects were well represented.

The Alpen Garden

all kinds of tea

My favorite section was this area selling European houseware items. I just love looking at serveware specially for coffee and tea.

They even had an Apple store inside.

Just take a look at their store directory.

I remember ‘reading’ 老夫子 (Lǎo Fū Zi) when I was a kid.

The Japanese section was all white.

I had to ask my friend who is Japanese what these colorful cloths were. She said “tenugui” literally means to wipe your hands. It is a traditional cloth used back in “Edo era.”  They used to use it to wipe their hands and other purposes like tie up kimono or wrap around their head to keep their sweat from their face. These days these tenugi are used for wrapping gifts too.

The cookbook section was quite extensive too.

This level had lots of stationery and cutsie stuff. Somebody on this level finally told me I wasn’t allowed to take pictures. Good thing I managed to take a lot already. I could spend hours just browsing all the things in Eslite. It’s a must see when you visit Taipei.

Eslite Bookstore (Xinyi Store)
No. 11, Sōnggāo Rd, Sinyi District, Taipei City, Taiwan 110
telephone: (02) 8789-3388
Hours:10 am -2 am Bookstore (2F/3F/4F)
10 am-10 pm /Shopping Mall (B2/ B1/ 1F/ 5F/ 6F)
website