TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Eslite Spectrum Co’s first bookstore in Southeast Asia will open on schedule before the end of the year in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, reports said Thursday (Oct. 13).

The company, famous for operating the first 24-hour bookshop in Taiwan, has already opened branches in Hong Kong, China, and Japan. The Kuala Lumpur project was announced in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to doubts about whether the shop could be opened this year as originally planned.

Eslite Spectrum signed an agreement with Malaysia’s YTL Corporation to open the store at the Starhill luxury gallery in the capital’s Bukit Bintang business district. As is the case in many of its Taiwan stores, the Malaysian Eslite outlet will also offer fashion, design, arts, performances, coffee, and crafts, the company said Thursday.

The concept for the store’s division into four “cities” under the theme “Voyage of Exploration” was inspired by the book “Invisible Cities” by Italian author Italo Calvino. The 1972 novel mentions descriptions of fictional cities in conversations between explorer Marco Polo and Yuan Dynasty Emperor Kublai Khan.

Eslite worked with Malaysian group Loka Made on the interior decoration and for the design of related products. Books are in Malay, English, Chinese and Japanese, CNA reported.