Shopping in Taichung, Taiwan

From Night Markets to Super Malls

Shopping in Taichung, Taiwan can be fun if you know where to go. Some little-known places such as Yizhong Street and the two jade markets could also be listed as attractions for all the hustle and bustle they provide.

I'll also show you where to find English bookstores, traditional markets, malls and other cool places to do your shopping in Taichung.

Taichung Street and Night Markets

Yizhong Street

This is Taichung's most popular night market. It's the place in town to see the new, trendy face of Taiwan. It's very popular with university students. It has lots of teashops, cheap (very cheap) food stalls and restaurants that serve everything from Sushi to Kimchi and from hamburgers to dumplings. This "Night Market" starts being crowded around noon. Map.

Electronic and Jiguang Street

These two pedestrian shopping streets are just north of the train station in the old (run-down) part of town. You want to go there for the dynamic street ambiance (on weekends) and the cheap eateries and teashops, not to actually shop. Unless you need, dusty tapes, ink cartridges for a discontinued printer, a second-hand cellphone or other kinds of pointless junk. Map.

Zhonghua Night Market

Welcome to Taichung's oldest night market. Everyday, around 6:00pm, stands pop up along the roads between Taichung Park and Zhonghua Road and attract lots of friendly locals. It's not a very exciting place to shop as the vendors mostly carry useless wares, but there are quite a few good food stalls that offer traditional Taiwanese snacks. Map.

Taichung Bookstores

Eslite Bookstore

Eslite Bookstore has the widest selection of English titles in Taichung. They have four different branches in the city, but the only that's worth going to is the one located in Chung Yo department store, on Sanmin Rd. Lots of English magazines, travel guides, novels and art books. No teaching material and very few manuals for Chinese learners. Map.

Taichung Shopping Malls

Tiger City Department Store

Tiger City is a modern shopping center that houses more than 100 shops, good restaurants such as Chili's (the best Mexican restaurant in town), a Warner Village cinema complex, teashops, a Starbucks, spa facilities and a huge arcade. Map.

Mitsukoshi Department Store

Taichung's Mitsukoshi Department Store has 15 floors packed with brand-name vendors, several fine restaurants, coffee/tea shops, the best movie theatre in Taichung and a quite decent book/music/movie store called FNAC. This is a really nice mall. Map.

Chung Yo Department Store

Chung Yo occupies three massive 12-floor buildings that connect by sky bridges. There are two reasons why you should go. One is Taichung's largest bookstore on the 10th floor. The other is Jason's Market Place, an upscale supermarket that has fine imported wine/food. Map.