Kuang Chin Sheng Paper Umbrella
Southern Taiwan
This shop in a courtyard house is the Louis Vuitton of Taiwanese oil-paper umbrellas. It was founded during Japanese rule and appeared on the cover of an…
Must-see shopping in Taiwan
Taipei
Taipei's liveliest night market, and all the better for being local and less touristy. Food-wise there are steaks, sushi, animal-shaped biscuits,…
Tainan
An airy bookshop-cafe with large windows framing the sky, trees and canal outside. The books are mostly in Chinese, and lean towards the arts and…
Tainan
The elegant Hayashi Department Store sells attractive homewares and fashion created by Taiwanese designers, as well as gorgeously packaged Taiwanese cakes…
Taipei
The oldest tea-selling shop in Taipei, dating to 1883. The current fourth-generation merchants are more than happy to talk tea and let you sample the…
Taipei
Handmade lamps with painted dragons, bold flowers, bamboo and calligraphy, are solid red, and as big as a gym ball or small as a fist. There are also…
Taitung
One of Taiwan's niche coffee growers, little family-run Kintuka also bakes homemade, stick-shaped coffee biscuits, creates turmeric-yellowed tea and…
Hualien
It's not cheap, but spacious A-Zone presents a handy one-stop opportunity to browse a vast range of regional and Taiwanese products from leatherwork to…
Taipei
A rabbit's warren of old gems. You'll find everything here from ornate furniture to kimonos, chinaware, plastic toys, dial-up telephones and rocking…
Taipei
The rather ugly concrete structure, grafted onto a beautiful colonial-era facade adjacent to DaDaoCheng Theater, houses a huge fabric market on the 2nd…
Jianguo Weekend Holiday Jade Market
Taipei
This giant market peddling jade and other semiprecious stones is under Jianguo Overpass. There are also beads, pearls, religious artefacts and copper…
National Cultural and Creative Gift Center
Taipei
Four floors of jade, ceramics, tea sets, jewellery, scrolls, Kinmen knives, Kavalan whisky and handmade soap are just some of the highlights of the…
Kaohsiung
A delightful bookshop strong in the arts and humanities. Most books are in Mandarin, but there are photography titles in English as well as CDs of music…
Eastern Taiwan & Taroko National Park
A wonderfully wacky one-stop souvenir stop for all your minicanoe and owl model needs, with a 'museum' in the house next door.
Hualien
Semiprecious stones, made into anything from tiny brooches to 500kg jade dragons, are sold from this photogenic series of stalls set in a small garden…
Kaohsiung
Who says pens and erasers are obsolete? All the kinds of stationery that a kid has ever dreamed of owning – you'll find them here, including retro items…
Tainan
This family-run incense business started 120 years ago in the Qing dynasty. Today the fragrant sticks and cones are still handmade from all-natural…
Hualien
Da-Ai (meaning 'Big Love') specialises in turning recycled PET plastic bottles into fabrics from which it creates lightweight garments, blankets,…
Kaohsiung
A small fabric-art boutique selling lovely bags, garments and souvenir items printed with images native to Taiwan; in particular, the island's flora and…
Taipei
Rich, moist chocolatey squares of heaven. It's always worth stopping off for a slice of the unusual. Their bestseller is Earl Grey, and they also have…
Taitung
For handmade leather craft and bags fashioned from repurposed sacking, visit this workshop/boutique in a quirky little neighbourhood of graffiti-muralled…
Taichung
This hippy indie bookstore specialises in social science and literature, with a small selection of tomes in English. It also has its own cafe decked out…
Kaohsiung
A funky vintage shop selling interesting pre-1990s garments, watches and earrings from all over the globe. What we also love is the colourful glass art by…
Western Taiwan
Founded in the 1940s by master Wu Dunhou, this shop attracts collectors from all over the world. These days you're likely to see Wu's sons (highly skilled…
Kaohsiung
A deliciously musty shop chock-full of vintage toys, beaded handbags, used books and other exotic paraphernalia. There's usually a small exhibition on the…
Eastern Taiwan & Taroko National Park
For 80 years before its 2002 closure, this plant was one of Taiwan's biggest sugar refineries. Today, the main factory building is essentially derelict…
Tainan Kuang Tsai Embroidery Shop
Tainan
Mr Lin, one of the last remaining embroidery masters in Tainan, has been working at his craft for more than 50 years and now he and his daughter have…
Hualien
This Ji'an workshop is where celebrity sculptor Adic Chun Kuan Wang and his apprentices turn driftwood and other waste timber into unusual furniture,…
Taipei
This funky fabric shop uses bold and bright designs in cotton canvas to make bags, purses, laptop cases, book covers, Japanese wall curtains and anything…
Hualien
This modern showroom sells souvenir packs of various dried fish products, most notably katsuo (柴魚; dried bonito) flakes, which are an important condiment…
Taitung
Yang's moreish curls of roasted sweet potato are glazed in very light syrup. They are a locally celebrated mini chain but the shop opposite the post…
Taipei
Looking like a 1980s spaceship, Syntrend is a much-posher electronics mall than the scruffy Guanghua Digital Plaza next door. You'll find computers,…
Kaohsiung
You'd think you've stumbled into a bar or a mysterious Buddhist cave, but no, this is a bookshop. Save for dots of light on individual tomes, this quirky…
Taipei
In the funky loft space above a fusion restaurant in the Huashan 1914 Creative Park, you'll find this quirky, boutique design shop with a rich collection…
Hualien
Stocks an appealing selection of ceramics, hand-sculpted wooden animal figures and distinctive art postcards.
Eastern Taiwan & Taroko National Park
This community-run operation occupies an offbeat building with canoe-shaped prow set in its own organic vegetable garden. Partly built with nuclear…
Taichung
The two-storey dormitories of an old water utility have been taken over by bookstores, fashion boutiques and other creative businesses. The premises have…
Taipei
There's no English name, but the colourful designs of Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama's portrait on the door will alert you to this cosy corner shop…
Taichung
Chu Jun ('maggot bacteria') is a cult space that marries Japanese schoolgirl culture with the grotesque. The shop sells '70s Japanese paraphernalia and…
Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung's largest grocery wholesale market, the southern equivalent of Taipei's Dihua St, is here in Sanmin District, near Kaohsiung Main Station. The…
