Eslite Spectrum to continue China expansion

Taiwan’s Eslite Spectrum, which runs bookstores, shopping malls and restaurants, plans to continue adding stores in the greater China market.

President Wu Wen Chieh told the group’s annual meeting that after extending its reach into Hong Kong in 2012, the company had transformed into a cultural creative brand.

Wu said the company has 46 outlets in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China through teaming up with cultural creative brands, and plans to enter Shanghai by opening a store this year. Its first China outlet launched in Suzhou in November. Another store is planned for Shenzhen in 2018.

Eslite has three stores in Hong Kong, and Wu said that the company is studying the feasibility of opening more stores there.

However, Eslite has closed two stores in Taipei and will shut down two others. Wu said the company is determined to open new stores in Taiwan this year.

Chairman Wu Ching-yu told shareholders that the company has set its sights beyond the greater China market, with the aim of opening stores in Japan and the US.

He said two property developers in Japan have made contact with Eslite, but Eslite will expand at a stable pace globally.

Eslite last year posted NT$3.82 billion (US$118 million) in sales, up 9 per cent from a year earlier, and raked in NT$412 million in net profit, up 11.6 per cent.