KUALA LUMPUR Last Saturday, more than 50,000 people thronged a 70,000 sq ft space in Kuala Lumpurs Bukit Bintang, Malaysias Orchard Road equivalent, with long queues forming outside The Starhill mall.

Their unexpected destination? Beloved Taiwanese brand Eslites (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 YTLs decision to court Eslite as anchor tenant in pre-pandemic 2019.

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