Pairing literary charm and coffee aroma with books, a time-honored bookstore transforms into “Cheng Yi Town Slow Read”

▲ Cheng Yi Town Slow Read. (Photo / Provided by Cheng Yi Town Slow Read, the same applies below)

By Chen Ruizhong / Comprehensive report

In 2016, Cheng Yi Cultural Tourism made its first foray into the bookstore industry, giving birth to the group’s first new bookstore brand “Cheng Yi Town Slow Read,” creating a local bookstore for the people of Chiayi.

▲ The third floor also features a book display area and a sunlit bar.

Cheng Yi Town Slow Read centers around books, food and beverage, a curated marketplace of cultural and creative goods, and cultural and creative lectures. It has four floors in total, each with a themed book section. The first floor mainly features categorized book sales and a gift book section. The gift books are divided into six categories, including zones for visionary philosophy, daily life, warm feelings, romantic hints, crazy dissociation, and travel impulses, offering recommended suggestions for those looking to buy books as gifts. The first floor also houses “Na Ge Na Ge Café,” which offers a variety of specialty light meals and beverages.

▲ The first floor is a categorized book sales area.

The second floor is designed as a Cheng Yi Town Slow Read cultural and creative goods marketplace, featuring carefully selected cultural and creative products from over thirty local Taiwanese brands, with nearly a hundred different items on display. Additionally, the second floor includes Monroe Ice Bar, while the third floor houses the Long Light sunlit bar, offering a selection of over a hundred imported beers from around the world along with light meals and fried snacks. The fourth floor regularly hosts a series of local town lecture events and various workshops, and also provides venue rental services for book clubs and lectures.

▲ The second floor Cheng Yi Town Slow Read cultural and creative goods marketplace.

Cheng Yi Town Slow Read was formerly known as “Readers’ Cultural Plaza.” In 2015, when news spread that it was struggling to stay open due to poor management, the team led by Dai Shuling, co-founder of Cheng Yi Cultural Tourism Group, took over. Dai Shuling believes that reading and education are long-term investments, and a city cannot do without a literary bookstore. She aimed to preserve a bookstore filled with the collective memories of the people of Chiayi, to continue the culture of reading, to foster a sense of local belonging among Chiayi residents, and to further promote and celebrate it.

▲ The fourth floor used as a lecture space.

To coincide with the opening of Cheng Yi Town Slow Read, a membership card campaign has been launched. For an annual fee of NT$5,000 for the platinum card, you will receive a cultural and creative goods gift bag. Additionally, the NT$5,000 can be exchanged for either a book gift voucher or a monthly gift book delivery service—choose one. Furthermore, during the opening period, if you spend NT$399 or more in a single transaction on the day of card application, you will receive a limited-edition branded tote bag from Cheng Yi Town Slow Read.