Australian bookseller Dymocks is shutting its main Hong Kong store this month and will close its local office, the South China Morning Post reported. Calling Dymocks Hong Kong's largest English-language bookseller, the paper said that the landlord would not renew the lease on the company's store in the IFC Mall.
The five remaining Dymocks stores in Hong Kong will operate independently using the Dymocks name before being rebranded individually. The Post's parent company, SCMP Group, is a minority shareholder in Dymocks's China operations.
Dymocks opened in Hong Kong 15 years ago. The paper noted that local booksellers have been "battered by high rents and shifting reading habits."
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Taiwan's Eslite Group, whose flagship store in Taipei is open 24 hours a day, will open its first stores in China, including in the Shanghai Tower, a 121-story building that will be China's tallest and the third-tallest in the world, according to China Times.
At the Shanghai Tower, which is under construction, Eslite will have what may be the highest bookstore in the world--the main bookstore will be on the 52nd and 53rd floors. (It will also sell lifestyle merchandise and highlight artistic works in a space on the basement floor.)
The company plans to open six to eight stores in China--launching one or two more annually--preferably in shopping malls or business districts.