Eslite 24-Hr Dunnan Store Closed; Xinyi 24-Hr Store Now Closed Too (2023 update)

There are a couple of stores I used to go to that sell vinyl, but I haven’t been in a while. They never did much new stuff but they would sometimes surprise me. Both of these were close to Taipei Main Station.

This place always had some vinyl, but I haven’t been in years. It was very cheap stuff, some of it pretty weathered, but I found some pretty good stuff (again, this was years ago). The shop is on the second floor.

Looking at their site, it looks like they still sell vinyl.

There’s also a shop right here. This one’s downstairs and had a better selection, I thought.

There were a few others but I either can’t remember where they are or they’re gone now.

"This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.” - T.S. Eliot

Eslite does have the largest vinyl selection across genres and eras in Taipei, but all Eslite Music have inventory + also on the website, so one store closing shouldn’t have a huge effect.

Every time I want to buy a book at Eslite they tell me they don’t have stock and it takes 2 months to order.

Do you normally buy from the NY times 2 month wait list books?

The most recent time I wanted to buy Shogun and Tai-Pan by James Clavell.

So, why did it take 2 years to end the lease?

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It has been packed inside recently.

If people visited stores half as frequently before the going out of business sales perhaps stores wouldn’t have to go out of business so frequently.

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Maybe that’s the place a lot of them met before they married each other

Man I wouldn’t line up to go say goodbye to a bookstore

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Maybe they had a sale for closing the location

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Lord knows the Taiwanese love a sale more than just about anyone.

Han Cheung’s latest feature in the Taipei Times looks back on the origins of Eslite and how its 24 hour store in Taipei got started in the late 1990s. It’s a great read!

Guy

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IS it just the bookstore? What about the record store downstairs?

What is “it”?

Guy

Is it just the bookstore closing?

Eslite is out of its Dunnan location—the bookstore, the other shops, everything. Today’s your last chance to visit! : D

Guy

Bidding farewell to Eslite’s Dunnan store:

Guy

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The whole building. It’s sad. I’ve been going there for 20 years. The rent is astronomical in that area. I’m gonna miss Eslite.