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Malaysia’s bookstore boom: Why are Eslite and Tsutaya not opening in Singapore?
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Eslite bookstore in Kuala Lumpur's The Starhill, the Taiwanese brand's first in South-east Asia.
PHOTO: ESLITE SPECTRUM
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KUALA LUMPUR – Last Saturday, more than 50,000 people thronged a 70,000 sq ft space in Kuala Lumpur’s Bukit Bintang, Malaysia’s Orchard Road equivalent, with long queues forming outside The Starhill mall.
Their unexpected destination? Beloved Taiwanese brand Eslite’s (pronounced e-lite) new bookstore, its first in South-east Asia. This is despite The Starhill also housing luxury designer brands such as Roberto Cavalli and Shiatzy Chen not available elsewhere in South-east Asia, seemingly vindicating building owner YTL’s decision to court Eslite as anchor tenant in pre-pandemic 2019.
