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--By Josie Wu, translated by Cara Steenstra
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.
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