Shopping malls/areas

• Shilin Night Market has more than just food and has a section which sells bags and Ximending, the area with youth. clothing. Most of the stuff here are just imitations though. To get there, take the MRT Danshui Line to Jiantan Station. The food court is located directly across the street from the station with the rest of the night market spreading out to the north.
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• Taipei 101 Mall
• Miramar Entertainment Park is mostly your regular shopping center with the usual stuff, though it also houses the only IMAX theatre in Taiwan as well as the Miramar ferris wheel which offers great views of Taipei city.
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• Eslite Mall - an upscale market-style shopping center with 24 hour book shop (with good English selection) on the second floor and ethnic music store in basement. 245 Dunhua South Road - near intersection with Renai Road.
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• Breeze Center, 39 Fuxing South Road, Sec. 1 (near the intersection with Civic Boulevard) Tel:+886 2 6600-8888. Open: 11AM-9:30PM Sun-Thur; 11AM-10PM Fri-Sat.
• The Core Pacific Living Mall (Jinghua Cheng), reportedly Asia's largest shopping center under one roof, has many stores open 24 hours, plus a large food court, cinema complex, and the nightclub Plush, located on Bade Road, near intersection with Guangfu South Road.

• A main shopping area is also located around the Sogo Department Store on Zhongxiao East Road, Sec. 4 (nearest MRT Station: Zhongxiao Fuxing), and the lanes and alleys around Da'an Road (behind Sogo) have an interesting array of small shops and boutiques. Buddha Statues, prayer flags and other artifacts associated with Tibetan Buddhism can be purchased at Potala, 2F, 2-4, Lane 51, Da'an Road. Tel:+886 2 2741-6906. The staff speak English and the prices are reasonable. Also, those interested in all things Nepalese should check out Jay Shiva Shamyoo Himalayan Handicrafts, located in the basement of 1 Lane 146, Zhongxiao East Road, sec. 4. Tel:+886 2 2740 2828.
• Those interested in picking up cheap electronic goods and cameras should wander the lanes and alleys around Kaifeng Street and Zhonghua Road (near Taipei Main Station).
• Computer buffs will enjoy a visit to Guanghua Market (Guanghua Shangchang). 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 & VCD selections (remember to check DVD region codes) and used book stores. The old location on Bade Rd. under the Xinsheng overpass was demolished in January 2006, and all the shops have moved to a new location at the southeast corner of Civic Blvd and Jinshan Road, a short walk from the old location.
• The Station Front Area, a section of Downtown just south of the Taipei Railway Station is a bustling area filled with shops and stores of all kinds, but is especially well known for it's high concentration of bookstores, and in recent years, stores specializing in electronics and computer hardware. 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:

• The Ximending is the trendy shopping area just west of Downtown popular with local students. If it's pink, plastic, and imported from Japan, you can probably find it on sale in a store here. To get to Ximending, take the MRT Blue (Bannan) Line and get off at Ximen Station.
• Zhongshan North Road 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 2nd 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.

Handicrafts

• Weekend Jade Market. Located under an elevated expressway, reaching from Renai Road & Jianguo South Road intersection down Jianguo Rd. till Xinyi Rd. In addition to jade, flowers and many other kinds of handcrafts and articles of jewelery can be bought. There are actually three different markets, the Weekend Jade Market, Weekend Flower Market and Weekend Handicrafts Market in this same location, and as the names suggest, they're only open on weekends, until 6:00pm.
• For handicrafts, visit the Chinese Handicraft Mart, 1 Xuzhou Road (on corner of intersection with Zhongshan South Road).
• Pottery enthusiasts will enjoy a visit to Yingge in Taipei County (Take train, and get off at Yingge Station). Old Street is a crescent of beautiful pottery shops interspersed with coffee shops and tea houses.

Trekking/backpacking gear

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

Books

• 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 offer a good selection at most of their branches, though the 24 hour flagship store at 2F, 245 Dunhua South Road. Tel:+886 2 2775-5977 and the huge Eslite Book Store and shopping mall at 11 Songgau Road, which incidentally is the largest book store in Taiwan, have the greatest selection. The Songgau Road branch is located next to MRT Station 'Taipei City Hall'.
• Page One on the fourth floor of the shopping mall at Taipei 101. Tel+886 2 8101-8282 - a very large and varied selection of English titles.
• Caves Books, 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), and 5, Lane 38, Tianyu Street, Tianmu. Tel:+2 886 2874-2199 - 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, 4F, 271 Roosevelt Road, Sec 3. Tel:+886 2 2363-4265 - 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 - an excellent collection of English literature books, albeit a little expensive.
• Mollie Used Books, 17, Alley 10, Lane 244, Roosevelt Road sec 3. Tel:886 2 2369-2780 - a reasonable selection of English titles.