Book lovers, watch this space

Eslite, the Taiwanese bookshop chain famous for its extensive collection as well as its shops and galleries, is expected to make a splash when it opens what will be Hong Kong's biggest bookshop in Causeway Bay on Saturday next week.

Taking up three floors of the new Hysan Place mall, Eslite's local outlet, its first outside Taiwan, will occupy 41,000 square feet. The previous biggest bookstore, the 32,000 sq ft Xinhua Book City on Leighton Road, closed in 2008.

Eslite will attract not only book lovers. Trendy youngsters and tourists are also drawn to its 50 outlets in Taiwan, which are renowned for their exquisite souvenirs and stationery. Its flagship Taipei outlet, a popular stop for Hong Kong tourists, attracts 10 million visitors every year.

Never has a Taiwanese chain as big as Eslite joined the Hong Kong book scene. Members of the local book trade are wondering whether it will boost or hurt the more than 100 bookshops already in the city. Even veterans of the profession are divided in their expectations, as it has been more than two decades since the arrival of a new competitor in the Chinese-language book market.

English-language booksellers will not be spared either, as mainly Chinese-language booksellers plan to improve their presently small English-language offerings to expand their customer base.

'No one can stay away from change when a mega player enters the market,' said Steven Luk Kwok-sun, the director, general manager and chief editor of the city's biggest bookseller, Commercial Press.

Over the past century, the mainstream book market has been dominated by three players - Commercial Press, Chung Hwa Books and Joint Publishing. Together, they run 43 bookshops and have been on friendly terms. They are the core members of Sino United Publishing, an alliance of local publishers and retailers.