A World of Weird and Wonderful Shopping at Taipei City Mall
Taipei City Mall is the oldest underground market in Taipei and runs between Taipei Main Station and Beimen Station, over 800m in length with over 200 stores. These aren’t chain shops, just individual retailers selling an assortment of (mostly) cheap goods that can be loosely sorted into several categories: fashion, electronics, food, and miscellaneous items. While there are a number of nice malls in Taipei, this one stands out due to its… unique character. Taipei City Mall can be a little wild and rough around the edges, a far cry from the more refined malls above ground. While getting tangled in its maze of hallways can be a huge frustration when trying to navigate Taipei Main Station, it’s also not the worst place to check out on a rainy day, or if you’re in the area and feeling particularly bored.
Here are some of the things you should look out for:
Souvenirs
You will find all kinds of Taiwanese souvenirs in this mall for very reasonable prices, from the standard magnets, T-shirts, cups, postcards, pineapple cakes and stickers, to more “traditional” souvenirs such as jewelry (both cheap and expensive — we can’t speak to the authenticity or quality of the higher end products, so be warned), tea, and tableware. In fact, if we had to do some souvenir shopping, this is exactly where we’d do it.
Anime & Gaming Products
In the electronics section, you will come across a zillion shops selling anime, manga, anime figurines, toys, merchandise — you name it. There are also a number of gaming shops where you can buy consoles, accessories, and games of all kinds.
Bonus: there are even a few maid cafes and a small arcade!
Cheap Clothes & Accessories
There are a huge number of cheap shops selling clothes, bags, shoes, and accessories such as jewellery and sunglasses. These are mostly imported from China, and you can find a wide variety of styles and quality. We probably wouldn’t shop for a new wardrobe here — most shops don’t allow you to try things on — but you could if you were determined enough.
Massage Shops & Fortune Tellers
There are a handful of blind massage shops scattered around Taipei City Mall, as well as a seemingly-gimmicky knife massage place. Read more about them here. The blind massage places are actually quite good — we’ve never had a massage we regretted — although they are somewhat rough around the edges. Typically they differ from usual massage joints in that they offer shorter massage periods (10, 20, 30-minute options are available) in addition to the typical hour-long sessions.
There are also a couple of fortune tellers scattered throughout the mall. Everything is in Chinese, and we haven’t been, so go at your own risk!
Indonesian (& other) Cuisine
In the food section of the mall, you will find a number of reasonably-priced restaurants of varying cuisines, mostly the standard Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese, and “Western.” However, in an interesting turn of events, we discovered a generous cluster of Indonesian restaurants serving cheap staple dishes. Yes, please!
There’s also an ice cream shop called Duroyal (an American chain) that always has huge lines. We tried it out of curiosity and wouldn’t particularly recommend — it’s very cheap, only about $25-$35, but nothing particularly special. Read more about it at Jaysuneatstaipei.
Overall, Taipei City Mall can be a complete hellhole at the worst of times, largely due to how huge it is, how confusing it is to navigate (other than the exits, there are no real landmarks to help guide your way), how grimy it can feel, and how crowded it can be. Still, there’s a certain rustic charm to it, and it’s a good spot to get souvenirs and knick-knacks or indulge in a quick massage. It’s also possible to walk all the way from Taipei City Mall to the end of Zhongshan Metro Mall (stretching from Taipei Main Station to Shuanglian Station), as they are connected by a passage under Taipei Main. Together, the maze of underground malls makes a decent rainy-day option.
What’s the vibe?
The Wild West of Taipei Malls. This is not the place to go for a relaxing day out.
Worth it?
That really depends on who you are and why you’re going. It’s certainly an experience, but it’s also completely missable. Tell us what you think if you go!
Would you go back?
Actually, yes. We like stopping by on our way home from work for a 20-minute massage because it’s fast and cheap. Other than that, we don’t really shop here — but we know people who do!
Last updated: November 2018
| Taipei City Mall |
| Chinese Name: 台北地下街 |
| Hours: Mon-Fri 11am - 9:30pm Sat & Sun 11am - 10pm |
| Phone: 02 2559 4566 |
| English Address: No. 100, Section 1, Citizen Avenue, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City |
| Chinese Address: 100台北市中正區市民大道一段100號 |
