Taipei

Weekend Jade Market

假日玉市 – located under an elevated expressway, reaching from renai road & jianguo south road intersection down jianguo road. till xinyi rd. in addition to jade, flowers and many other kinds of handcrafts and jewelry can be purchased. there are actually three different markets, the weekend jade market, weekend flower market and weekend handicrafts market in this same location. as the names suggest, they are open only on weekends until 6pm.

Chinese Handicraft Mart

For handicrafts, visit the Chinese Handicraft Mart 中華工藝館 (http://www.handicraft.org.tw), 1 Xuzhou Rd on corner of intersection with Zhongshan South Roadd.

book shops

Taipei has great book shops, and roads such are Chongqing South Road, are packed with stores specializing in Chinese language books. The following book stores all have good selections of English titles:

Eslite

誠品 – eslite offers a good selection at most of their branches, although the 24 hour flagship store 2f, 245 dunhua south rd. tel:+886 2 2775-5977 has the best selection. eslite book store and shopping mall 11 songgau road, which incidentally is the largest book store in taiwan, have the greatest selection. the songgau rd branch is located next to mrt station 'taipei city hall'.

Caves Books

敦煌 has two branches 54-3 zhongshan north road, sec 2, near yuanshan mrt station. tel +886 2 2599-1166. this is a temporary location, while the old store is demolished and rebuilt. the other branch 5, le 38, tianyu st, tianmu. tel:+2 886 2874-2199 is one of the original book stores in taipei specializing in english titles. and, although it has been surpassed by the newer arrivals, it is still a good place to pick up a popular novel and english language text books.

Lai Lai

來來, 4f, 271 roosevelt road, sec 3. tel:+886 2 2363-4265 – this shop has a small but interesting selection of english material.

Crane Publishing Company

6f, 109 heping e rd, sec 1. tel+886 2 2393-4497, 2394-1791 - specialists in english language text books and teaching material.

Bookman Books

Room 5, 2f, 88 xinsheng south road, sec 3. tel+886 2 2368-7226 - this is an excellent collection of english literature books, albeit a little expensive.

NB: In order to protect the environment, a government policy rules that plastic bags cannot be given freely at stores in Taiwan, but have to be bought NT$1 - bakeries being an exception as the items need to be hygienically wrapped. Re-usable canvas and nylon bags are sold at most supermarkets.

Computer buffs

Will enjoy a visit to guanghua digital plaza 光華數位新天地, originally called guanghua market 光華商場. specializing in computer and electronic goods, this market has the largest number of stalls selling hardware and software under one roof in taiwan, and all at very competitive prices. while there, check out the enormous dvd and vcd selection remember to check dvd region codes and used book stores. the old location on bade road. under the xinsheng overpass was demolished in january 2006, and all of the shops have moved to a new building at the southwest corner of civic boulevard and xinsheng north road in july, 2008, a short walk from the old location. the new building comprises of six floors: the first floor contains an exhibition area for new products and a food court; the original vendors of the old market are located on the second and third floor; floors four and five include vendors and shops from the xining electronic market; and the sixth floor houses product repair centers.

electronic goods and cameras

Those interested in picking up inexpensive electronic goods and cameras should wander the lanes and alleys around Kaifeng Sreet and Zhonghua Road near Taipei Main Station.

Eslite Mall

誠品 chengpin is an upscale market-style shopping center with a 24 hour book shop with a good english selection on the second floor and ethnic music store in basement. 245 dunhua south road near intersection with renai road. however, as of january 2010, this is the only eslite mall that opens 24 hours.

Station Front Area

The Station Front Area 站前 is a section of downtown Taipei just south of the Taipei Railway Station. It is a bustling area filled with shops and stores of all kinds, but it is particularly well known for it's high concentration of bookstores due to the bloom of bushibans as know as cram schools. In recent years, stores specializing in electronics and computer hardware has also grow fastly. Electronic and computer junkies take note, some smaller vendors will allow you to bargain down prices on large purchases i.e. a custom built PC. Popular places in this area to shop for computer hardware and software include:Nova, a four storey collection of small computer and electronics vendors in what can be described only as a high tech bazaar located across the street from the railway station on the west side of the Shinkong Mitsukoshi department store.K-Mall, located in the former Asiaworld department store on the east side of Shinkong Mitsukoshi, this trendy mall specializes in electronics of all kinds and is a location for large companies such as Asus, Samsung, Benq, and Acer to showcase their newest products.The Taipei Zhongshan Metro Shopping Mall Easy Mall is a long underground shopping area that houses several stores selling all manner of items, not necessarily limited to electronics. A few stores in the Easy Mall carry current and vintage video games, hardware and software. They also perform hardware modifications on consoles. The Easy Mall is accessible through the basement of Taipei Railway Station.

Nova

A four storey collection of small computer and electronics vendors in what can be described only as a high tech bazaar located across the street from the railway station on the west side of the shinkong mitsukoshi department store.

Breeze Center

微風廣場 weifeng guangchang, 39 fuxing south rd, sec. 1 near the intersection with civic boulevard tel:+886 2 6600-8888. open: 11am-9:30pm sun-thur, 11am-10pm fri-sat.

Taipei Zhongshan Metro Shopping Mall (Easy Mall)

The Taipei Zhongshan Metro Shopping Mall Easy Mall is a long underground shopping area that houses several stores selling all manner of items, not necessarily limited to electronics. A few stores in the Easy Mall carry current and vintage video games, hardware and software. They also perform hardware modifications on consoles. The Easy Mall is accessible through the basement of Taipei Railway Station.

Xinyi District

Is the seat of the taipei mayor's office and the taipei city council. the taipei convention hall, the taipei world trade center, taipei 101, taipei city hall, and various shopping malls and entertainment venues make xinyi the most modern cosmopolitan district of taipei. xinyi district is also considered the financial district of taipei. the sun yat-sen memorial hall is also in the district. much of the district used to be wetlands, explaining the abundance of space for construction projects as this was one of the last places in taipei to be developed. the district is arguably the premiere shopping area in taipei, if not all of taiwan. xinyi district is anchored by a number of department stores and malls. in addition, numerous restaurants are located in the area, especially american chain restaurants.

Zhongshan North Road

中山北路 is a tree-lined boulevard featuring numerous international and local brands. gucci and louis vuitton are among the brands who operate stores along this street. this road, particularly along the second section, is also famous for its numerous wedding picture studios and gown boutiques. it is possible to find a great deal for wedding portraits here as competition is stiff. this road runs parallel to the mrt red danshui/beitou line.

It is often said that L.A. has no center. In contrast, one could say that Taipei is all center, and as such it has been given the epithet - "the emporium without end." Basically, however, the main shopping area can be divided into two districts: East and West. West Taipei is the old city and is characterized by narrow streets packed with small shops. The Western district is also home to most government buildings and the Taipei Main Station. East Taipei boasts wide tree lined boulevards and the four main shopping malls are located in this area. Popular shopping destinations in East Taipei consist of the area around the ZhongXiao-DunHua intersection and Taipei 101.

trekking and backpacking

Mountain Hard Wear, 7 Ln 284, Roosevelt Rd, sec. 3, Gongguan nearest MRT - Gongguan Tel:+886 2 2365-1501, plus a few stores within a few doors of each other are professional trekking and backpacking stores offering a wide range of high quality equipment. These stores are just north of the junction with Zhongxiao West Rd on Zhongshan North Rd, sec 1 west side of the road.