Hayashi Department Store, Tainan

Great place to visit for some local arts and crafts. Found some truly delightful items. There is a restaurant upstairs that has great food (curry) and shaved ice to combat the heat. If you like dhopping for unique gift items about Taiwan or Tainan you should not miss this place!

An interesting place! Liked so much that we came back repeatedly to check out the store over and over again. it is full of hand crafted handicrafts and artifacts. I took the opportunity to read up on the rich history of the building as well . There is a café at the top of the building for us to rest our tired legs as well.

I heard this was a posh department store and I’ve been here a few times. I saw some small plates I like and the price was quite a bargain. It took me some time but I managed to find a member of staff to help my purchase. I checked with the lady if each plate cost $200 and she said yes. I asked to buy 4. Then it took a long time for 2 members of staff to find those plates for me. I was told those I saw on the shelf were the last 4 so I agreed to purchase them. Two members of staff assisted me to the counter to complete my purchase. One of them was wrapping the plates and putting them into the boxes. She said it would take a while so I went to walk around. After 10 minutes, I went back. Both of them were serving other customers and left my plates unattended. When they realised I was standing there waiting, another lady began to wrap my plates again. After a long time when I was able to pay for my purchase, the till said each plate cost $350, not $200 as it was shown on the shelf. One member of staff went to check. She told me that other customers misplaced the price tags so the correct price was hidden somewhere. I felt embarrassed not to pay for it after they spent so much time wrapping them even most of the time they were serving other customers. I find this shop was not very organised and it doesn’t respect the customers for first come first serve, and they don’t recognise they own mistake of misplacing the price tag. It was not a good experience of shopping there and I don’t think I would like to go there again. I also found the staff there couldn’t communicate with foreigners in English very well. I observe some odd conversations (half English and half Mandarin Chinese) between the two members of staff and a foreign man.

Very cool old-world Japanese department store that’s stood on this site through World War Two and still shows bullet holes and signs of the war. Very cool hand crafted items and a very cool vibe. Totally worth a visit with great views from the roof and even its own Shinto shrine.

quite pricy place to buy good souvenir, its over 100 years old shopping centre, the antique lift is still functional