Eslite

I have been going to Eslite at Taipei 101 every time I am in town and was so excited that Eslite opens up this first location outside Taiwan in 2012 at Hysan Place in CWB.
I can spend hours checking out all the books they have here. The collection here is just impressive. If you like food and cooking, they have a lot of good colourful cookbooks that is perfect for gifts.
Aside from books, there are also gadgets, stationary, aromatherapy products from Taiwan, café and even a bbt shop.
Worth checking out. I would ask to meet up my friends here especially the ones that are always at least 30 minute late.

This bookstore is incredible and will entertain you for hours! Eslite is a giant bookstore consisting of three floors, located in the Hysan Palace shopping mall.
You will find here an enormous selection of books and magazines, but also office supplies, gadgets, food and drinks. I especially like their selection of educational books in English that teach you to learn to speak Cantonese or to write in traditional Chinese. Being a Dutch Born Chinese with a Cantonese background, it was difficult for me to understand my Chinese schoolbooks written only in traditional Chinese during Chinese class. This was because my Cantonese was bad by the time I got into Chinese class and because the teachers teached only in Cantonese. The Cantonese dialect is so different from the traditional Chinese writing, which made it was hard to put the words into context and truly understand what these words meant. Educational books like these are hard to come by and I had no idea they existed.
The cookbook section is also recommended if you love Chinese food but can’t ready Chinese, because there are also English translated Chinese cookbooks available here.
I highly recommend Eslite for a visit!

The best bookstore I’ve ever been to. Hands down.
Located on the 8^th — 10^th floor of the Hysan Place shopping center, this bookshop is a mecca if you’re a book lover (or not). Impressive collection of books, magazines and humanitarian journals, I got to know that Eslite is originally from Taiwan specialized in arts and humanities titles. Besides book, the shop also carry some amazing brands for leather goods, chocolates, toileteries and many more.
If there’s one place i would recommend tourist to go and look for quirky souvenirs from HK, this would be the place. Lovin’ it!

Heard of this Taiwanese bookstore arrived Hong Kong for a long time! Finally visited there! Three floors occupied at Hysan place Causeway Bay! Very quite and relaxing environment in the very busy Causeway Bay with nice coffee shops! Varieties of books in the bookstore! Highly recommended if you need some space, silence and rest in the packed crowded Causeway Bay. I ended up bought 8 books at once! Heavy!

The selection in Eslite is excellent. Eslite would be more aptly named «elite». This is a great place to go shopping for that special person with eclectic tastes in books. There are also some interesting toys there too. Book selection exists in traditional and English as well.

As a Taiwanese American, I stand proud behind Eslite. Yes, this place can be a huge clusterf*#$ during the weekends, but where else can you spend endless hours finding cool things to learn about? Yes, the ones in Taiwan are much better and larger and have turned into a lifestyle brand, however having Eslite in Hong Kong really makes me feel like I am back in Taipei, which have been some of my happiest times in my life here in Asia. My only suggestion? Open a shaved ice /​Taiwanese dessert place in here and/​or sell Taiwanese breakfast and I may never leave.
Thank you Eslite for coming to Hong Kong. Let’s bring more Taiwanese chains here to Hong Kong!

at least bookstores still live in Asia as opposed to almost dead in the US. open 24hr in Taipei didn’t translate well to HK but nice to have all the little shops inside the bookstore. and food easily available on other floors.

Eslite’s number one selling point is that it’s a bookstore that is open for 24 hours from Thursday to Saturday. Hmm. A possibly wonderful idea that unfortunately just doesn’t work in Hong Kong. In Taiwan, however, Eslite has been going around with the 24-​hour bookstore concept for 15 years and has seen massive popularity. In Hong Kong, who decides to read a book at 2 in the morning and find themselves going to Eslite? Not that many, I suppose.
So, with all that said, what do I like about it? Well, it is THE largest bookstore in town. Which means if I can’t find an item here, it’s probably in a niche bookstore tucked away in an alley. Aside from the large number of books available in several languages, Eslite’s three floors contain a café, boutiques, handicrafts and stationery, and a music store. If I had to sum up the design, it’s a mix of Muji, Popular, and PageOne. I wasn’t that impressed with the idea of a three-​storey bookstore as I have seen better in other countries.
My favorite section in Eslite is their vast catalog of photography books where I bury myself reading and forget about the time. I have been late on appointments with friends because I have been reading far too long here — there’s just so much to read. While it may never replace one of favorite public reading spots (PageOne in Times Square), I appreciate that there is such an option in Hong Kong. I also enjoy a good Taiwanese milk tea to go along with my reading whenever I am in Eslite.

Eslite was one of the most anticipated spot to visit before it opened in 2011 — 24hr bookstore — c’mon it’s unprecedented in Hong Kong! If you have ever been to Taiwan you would notice that not all Eslites keep their doors open throughout the day — but people who do visit them overnight have definitely got a serious sudden book obsession that needs to be eased.
When it comes to Hong Kong, a lot of times the nature of things would have been «sterilized» without knowing the exact reason. Unable to oblige to the original idea of keeping a 24hr bookshop, which proves that Eslite Hong Kong has not much of a chance to attract the nocturnal audience.
On the flip side of the coin, it has then become a very popular spot for kids and families to linger around at weekends, probably because of it’s in store beverage stores. They are undoubtedly great attractions for visitors to have a taste of Taiwanese tea albeit it is always, always very pack like anywhere else in this city. Props to the restaurant Herbivores in the store where one can find himself ended up in a quiet aesthetics consequential of book browsing.
Eslite definitely houses a vast variety of books that provide the Hong Kong bookworms with better options in this city also known as a cultural desert (yes while another Page One closes down on the other side of the harbor, the 3-​storey Eslite still is a living miracle). Regardless, the recent political moves in self-​censorship has brought alongside definitely concerns from intellectuals around the city on the propriety of Eslite Hong Kong.