Taiwan online bookseller to open physical store at former 24-hour Eslite Xinyi

台灣網路書店將在前誠品24小時信義店開設實體店

Dream Plaza will include bookstore, supermarket, Starbucks


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Online bookseller books.com.tw will open its first brick-and-mortar store at the site of the former Eslite Xinyi 24-hour bookshop in Taipei, reports said Thursday (June 27).

The building in the upscale Xinyi District will feature a department store called “Dream Plaza,” which will devote 3,305 square meters to the new bookshop, per CNA. The Uni-President Group said the shopping complex will open in 2025, though it did not reveal a precise date.

At a shareholders meeting Thursday, the chair of the group’s beauty businesses, Shirley Kao (高秀玲), said the new bookstore would occupy one floor in the building. She also confirmed that talks are continuing with Starbucks in the United States about opening a location inside Dream Plaza.

Kao said in April that the Starbucks café would be the largest in the world, occupying 2.000 square meters on the 6th floor of the building. Uni-President runs the Starbucks franchise in Taiwan.

In addition, Kao told shareholders Thursday that one of the group’s supermarket brands, either Carrefour or Mia C’bon, would open a branch in the basement.

Eslite closed down its Xinyi outlet last December after it failed to reach an agreement with landlord Uni-President to have its lease extended. Eslite later turned its nearby Songyan outlet into a 24-hour store.