Where to buy things in Taiwan

There are some things you just can’t bring from Singapore because they are probably too bulky, you know, like bicycles.

It’s obviously cheaper to buy second hand goods, so it’s good to do some cursory googling, I found a 250 NTD standing fan that would have cost about 600-800NTD usually. It’s probably not going to last past 3 months but when the weather gets cold you don’t really need a brand new fan until Jan.

Here are some places we went to buy all kinds of things, from shower stuff to bicycles!

1. Carrefour pop-up tent
   Location: Right outside dorms, setup for roughly 2 weeks from check-in (It ends on 9/9/2018 for us)
   Opening Hours: 9am ~ 9pm
   Price Range: $$This is a very small pop up that sells the basic necessities like mattresses (ranging from 800~2000NTD), wash basins, towels, bicycle locks, mugs, adaptors, power strips. If you want more variety, you should probably head to the bigger carrefour.
2. Carrefour
   Location: No. 1, Guilin Road, Wanhua District, Taipei City, 108
   How to get there: MRT from GongGuan 公馆 to XiaoNanMen 小南门 then walk for a while
   Opening Hours: 24/7
   Price Range: $$
   The price range is the same as the popup store on campus, but there is way more variety and you can buy groceries if you want. They sell more bed sheets, clothes, kind of like the big Giant at Tampines. A lot of food and snacks. There is a sushi express and macs, and the macs’ pork burger is pretty good. Just remember that you would have to take MRT back, so don’t buy too bulky things.
3. 7-11
   Location: Outside dorms
   Opening Hours: 24/7
   Price Range: $
   The stuff is slightly cheaper than carrefour, but they only sell mattress, pillows, bins, hangers, etc (the very basic of basic necessities). The bin here is 69NTD, while it is >149NTD at carrefour, and 35 NTD at Ikea.
4. Ikea
   Location: IKEA Dunhua North Road Store, No. 100號, DunHua N Rd, Songshan District, Taipei City, 105
   How to get there: MRT from GongGuan 公馆 to Taipei Arena 台北小巨蛋站, Exit 1 and walk straight, then turn right after the traffic light.
   Opening Hours: 10 AM – 9.30 PM
   Price Range: $-$$$Price range varies a lot, bc some stuff go on promotions and are super cheap. You can get mugs and drinking glasses for 15-19 NTD, but some things like bed sheets are at least 299NTD-899NTD. The quality is similar to any IKEA, but it’s just so expensive. You can get the 35 NTD bin from here. Also a good place to get foldable wardrobe organisers that you can also bring home.
5. Guang Nan Wholesaler 光南大批发
   Location: No. 114-116, Section 4, Roosevelt Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100
   How to get there: Walk towards GongGuan MRT, turn right and keep walking (for a very long time, past the blue building called shui yuan market) until you see a yellow signboard and a place that looks like ValuDollar.
   Opening Hours: 10.30 AM – 10.30 PM
   Price Range: $
   A lot of baskets and bins are 39 NTD. You can get cheap rags for 29NTD and various necessities. First floor holds things like sunscreens, cosmetics, soaps, tissues, air fresheners etc. Second floor holds stationery. Third floor sells electrical appliances, keyboards and also CDs and DVDs (and some questionable anime). You might want to consider buying a small fan for 499NTD, as it uses less electricity than an aircon. Or you can save the 499 and stay at the lobby until you go to sleep.
   
6. Secondhand Bicycle Shop 台大水源校區二手腳踏車拍賣場
   Location: No. 18, Siyuan St, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, 100
   How to get there: From 7-11 outside the dorms, walk towards starbucks until you see a building called Incubation Center 育成中心, then turn left and head in and then turn right and walk straight down.
   Opening hours: 8 AM – 4.30 PM
   Price Range: $-$$
   Fresh bikes are brought in at ~5 AM. Uncles there say that some international students come at 6 AM to get first dibs. Not sure if the bicycles are worth waking up early for, but then again I never went there at 5 am. Bicycles are priced at 600NTD, 800NTD, 1200NTD. If you only intend to cycle to classes and maybe to the MRT, a 600NTD should be fine, with some repairs. They do not sell baskets here and help you with some minimal repairs and checks. You need to come here to print the label for your bicycle, otherwise you will not get your bike back if it gets towed away by the campus bike uncle (水源 ah pek). If you are higher SES you might consider getting new bikes at other places, then you wont have to repair so much! Just FYI, replacing a tyre costs about 450 NTD so it might be good to get a bike that is not so old
7. XiaoFu 小福 Bicycle shop and repair station
   Location: No. 一號, Section 4, Roosevelt Rd, Da’an District, Taipei City, 10
   How to get there: It is near the College of Liberal Arts and the post office in campus. From the main gate, go down the hollywood road and turn left when you see a small bicycle shack.
   Opening Hours: 8.30 AM – 6 PM
   Price Range: Unknown They sell bicycle baskets, (250NTD for plastic ones), and help you repair your bicycle if needed. There are also tyre pumps outside the shop. I think you can also buy almost brand new bikes. The people there are very friendly.

There are also some bicycle shops opposite the Social Science buildings, along 191 Alley, but we never got the chance to check it out.

Also, there are many small provision shops (kind of similar to those neighbourhood provision shops that sell lightbulbs and brooms and whatnot) around the area so when you get a bike, it’s probably good to cycle around to find these places!