By Carin Bystrom

Shopping in Taipei can be a challenge especially for westerners. The obvious place to go is Taipei 101(Shifu Rd. #45) where there is a wide variety of different stores, high end stores such as Gucci, Prada, and Karl Lagerfeld, however if you are on a budget you can also find Mango and Esprit. Next to Taipei 101 you find New York New York(Songshou Rd. #12) where they have the brand Replay and Armani exchange. On the other hand, if it is not clothes that you are looking for, cosmetics and shoes are good to buy at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store(Songshou Rd. #9,#11) across the street from Viewshow, Xinyi district. There you will find an abundance of different makeup stores as well as all the shoe brands one can think of.

Another area which one must visit is by Sogo department store by Zhong Xiao(Zhongxiao E. Rd. Sec 4, #45) / Dunhua(Dunhua S. Rd. Sec 1, #246) There you can find all types of makeup brands as well as shoes. An Accessorize store(Zhongxiao E. Rd. Sec 4, #8, 1F) is also located down the street from Sogo department store.

If you would like to look for some popular goods, go to Ximending where young people like to hang out. You can see a lot of students there after school and still wearing their uniform. The main goods you find at Ximending are from Japan and you can buy a lot of lovely and fashionable clothes as well as accessories like earrings and necklaces. In Ximending everyone feels young.

Shilin night market is one of the biggest night markets in Taipei, with an endless variety of vendors and foods and lots of fashionable clothes and accessories. The price level is very cheap.

The latest department store "Q-square" (Chengde Rd. Sec 1, #1)located near by Taipei Station is convenient and caters to all age groups. It is predicted to be the new shopping paradise. Shin Kong Mitsukoshi department store(Zhongxiao W. Rd. Sec 1, #66) is close by.