Book Street Underground Taipei - Eslite R79

Book Street Underground - R79

Eslite is literally one of the best well-known brands of Taiwan in the creative or culture industry. At first, it was just a bookstore in Taiepi with very advanced concept at its time and later it gradually evolved to be the leading bookstore chain in Taiwan and even to be one of the best things Taiwan has ever spawned and contributed to this wonderful world of ours. If we are to select one brand to represent Taiwan’s soft power, Eslite is very likely to be chosen. It is a pity though that its founding father, Mr. Wu, passed away just two months ago. I’d like to dedicate this post to Mr. Wu to honor his incommensurable contribution to the enrichment of our spiritual life in Taiwan, in greater Chinese regions, in Asia and in the world.

Today I am gonna show you the R79 - a underground book street adjacent to Taipei Main Station, designed and operated by Eslite, that just opened a while ago. This place allegedly is the last work of Mr. Wu. I had goosebumps when I visited there two weeks ago. It was so exquisite, graceful, serene, yet fashionable and vibrant. Love it. Let me give you a virtual tour.

誠品書店，源自於台灣，現在幾乎在兩岸三地都是非常知名的文化書店品牌。誠品在台灣，早已經超出書店範疇，而是台灣文化創意領域動見觀瞻的巨擘了。如果要選出代表台灣的文化品牌，我想誠品有很高的機會當選的。很遺憾的是誠品創辦人吳清友先生在兩個月前過世了，雖然他已經為台灣，為華人，為世界留下了無與倫比的典範與影響，但仍讓我們無限緬懷，僅以此篇向吳先生致敬。

台北中山書街，號稱是吳清友先生最後的作品，也恰好在這段時間開幕，為過往傳統低價書充斥的中山書街注入新生命，為台北多創造了一塊文化風景。我兩週前剛好有點時間去看看，充分感受到誠品與吳先生的理念與執著，當真是台灣之光哪！讓我們一起在Steemit上悠遊一翻，等待你下次親自來體驗！

Eslite Book Store

Eslite book store is always part of Eslite’s mall, department store or, in this case, book street. Book store is where Eslite establishes herself so it is always the core of all its businesses. They don’t profit from books. Books help create a magical aura for this space and you can sell a lot of stuffs when people are in such kind of good moods.

書店永遠是誠品所經營的各種商業場域的核心構成，一方面這是因為誠品以書店起家，二方面他們並不真的靠賣書獲利，而是利用書所產生的知性氛圍，結合各種文化創意產品，進而能夠實現更高級的商業消費行為。

Eslite as a Platform

Yeah, create the platform, or the right tone for the space and then bring in lots of good stores. Now everything sells… :)

平台經濟誠品早就在實踐了，創造氣氛，引入好的外部精緻文創商品，商業與文化是可以共存的！

Photo Exhibition of Local Settlement

I love this part the most! I love when business knows how to respect local residents, traditional memory of space and etc. At least you should show that you respect it. They did. They have a photo exhibition on the local settlement of Chun-Shan. Maybe from famous photographers or maybe from a contest … I did not know. But all those photos are so heart touching and I really can feel the connection between me and them. Just a great move.

這部分是我最喜歡的：當地聚落攝影展。不確定是否為常設展覽，但實在每幅照片都能讓人深深感受到當地聚落過往的精彩歷史與豐富人文內涵。我對於商業行為能夠表現出尊重當地的態度，都會感到十分難得，畢竟這時代已經越來越商業化，越來越少對於文化的尊重了。誠品能這樣做，我感受到那份真摯的用心，即便本質上這仍是商業行為。無妨。

People Come and …

They have also created a very beautiful surroundings with lights and shadows. You may also find some chairs to rest. And… yeah! The secret of all successful malls in the east I suppose … You need to have places to eat or sell food! And, you bet the food in the Eslite book street need to be fancier!