10 stores · curated ORBIS register
Taipei bookshops mix literary politics with photobook precision and design retail. Eslite Spectrum Songyan ranges Taiwanese books, design goods, cultural retail under one Songyan roof, across floors that invite wandering. Fembooks opened on 17 April 1994 as the first feminist bookstore in the Chinese-speaking world. moom bookshop imports photobooks and magazines from international small publishers, trading since 2016. The photobook wall deserves more time than you originally planned.
Taichung / Taiwan
ORINGO's Taichung Greenway store pairs a first-floor "Shoe Research Room," stocked with the brand's handmade leather men's and women's shoes, with a second-floor reading lounge of design and menswear books. Walk-in customers can browse and try on shoes at the Xiangshang Road location, which keeps posted hours and a phone line for fitting appointments.
Best for Handmade leather shoe atelier
Xinyi
Four-story culture-retail store in Taipei's Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, part of the Eslite chain — books, design goods, a glass-blowing studio and a basement cinema, 24-hour since 2023.
Best for Taiwanese books, design goods and cultural retail
Eslite Spectrum Songyan is a four-story branch of Taiwan's Eslite retail/bookstore chain, built on the grounds of the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, a former tobacco factory site that today functions as an arts and culture center. Beyond books in Chinese and English, the store carries music and vinyl, stationery and design goods, and hosts book signings, exhibitions and workshops; the complex also includes independent brand shops, a glass-blowing studio, a concert hall and a basement cinema showing arthouse film. In 2023 it took over the Eslite chain's 24-hour operating slot, becoming the group's round-the-clock location.
2F, No. 7, Ln. 56, Sec. 3, Xinsheng S. Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei City 106, Taiwan / Taipei / Taiwan
Opened 17 April 1994 as the first feminist bookstore in the Chinese-speaking world; designated a Taiwan Landmark of Women’s Culture in 2007 (Wikipedia; official about).
Best for Opened 17 April 1994 as the first feminist bookstore in the Chinese-speaking world.
Da’an
An independent Taipei art and photography bookstore opened in 2016, specializing in photobooks and magazines from international independent publishers. The Da’an shop also hosts exhibitions and talks focused on photobooks.
Best for Photobooks and magazines from international small publishers, since 2016
moom bookshop opened in 2016 in the Da'an district of Taipei, about five minutes on foot from exit 1 of Zhongxiao Fuxing station. It specialises in photography, stocking new titles and established classics from independent publishers around the world. It set out to give Taiwanese readers open access to photobooks, including exclusive editions. The interior is painted white throughout, and the shop treats the space as a small gallery. Exhibitions and talks run through the year. They range from retrospectives of contemporary photographers to presentations of single publishers. Past shows have included MACK, AKAAKA, Pioneers of Color Photography and the work of Masafumi Sanai. One exhibition was built around the Japanese magazine Provoke. Obscura magazine first visited in the spring of 2019. It described a whitewashed facade with two narrow windows set among older apartment blocks. It also noted an exhibition of the shop's unsold books that gave slow-moving titles a second chance with new owners. The shop sells online and ships overseas as well. Customers outside Taiwan pay by card or PayPal, and cash on delivery is offered within the island. Its former domain, moom.cat, has been retired in favour of moom.com.tw.
1F, No. 14, Aly. 14, Ln. 283, Sec. 3, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei 106019, Taiwan / Taipei / Taiwan
Openbook: founded 1976 by Wei Dewen as Southern Material Center; Taiwan / Hakka / Indigenous / historical-map research. CTS News (26 Apr 2018): 40 years of Taiwan-history academic publishing and a Gongguan-alley walk-in scholars visit.
Best for Independent books and paper goods.
Zhongshan
Pon Ding combines an art bookshop with coffee and exhibition space in a former three-storey apartment building in Taipei's Zhongshan district, opened in 2016 by Chen Yichiu and Kenyon Yeh. Its books cover art and photography alongside design and culture, complemented by a range of magazines and zines. Its catalogue also lists print and poster artworks alongside objects, and the shop issues publications under its own name.
Best for Art books, zines and artist-made objects in Taipei
Pon Ding occupies a former three-storey apartment building in Taipei's Zhongshan district, combining an art bookshop with coffee and exhibition space. The name draws on the idea of water gathering, but the practical appeal lies in several activities sharing one building. You can browse printed work and objects while also considering whatever exhibition or event is currently being presented.
The book catalogue separates photography and art from design and culture, with zines providing another format alongside larger publications. Magazines form a distinct section, and the shop also publishes work under its own Pon Ding label. These categories make it useful to approach with a subject in mind rather than expecting a general-interest bookstore.
Beyond books, the catalogue includes prints and photographic works, together with home objects and other pieces by named artists. The shop's own objects sit alongside that broader selection, so not everything shares a single maker or production source. Coffee and the exhibition setting give the visit another dimension without changing the bookshop's emphasis on visual and creative work. Online orders can be collected free at the shop, or sent by post, to a 7-Eleven store, or freight-collect by SF Express for large or fragile works; the shop says orders leave in about two to four working days.
Taipei / Online
Sanmin has anchored Taiwanese bookselling and publishing since 1953 — floors of Chinese-language scholarship, literature and its own imprints. The serious reader's Taipei.
Best for Taiwan’s scholarly bookstore house
B1, No. 9, Ln. 333, Sec. 3, Roosevelt Rd., Da’an Dist., Taipei City 106, Taiwan / Taipei / Taiwan
Official about (visited 2026): publisher 1982, walk-in 1984; Chen Longhao; 2026 is year 44. Veins of Taipei (8 Dec 2025): Gongguan basement humanities/social-science independent; same alley address. Liberty Times (18 Jan 2026): 43-year independent; 羅斯福路三段333巷9號B1.
Best for Independent books and paper goods.
Zhongshan
Waiting Room is an independent Taipei record and culture shop carrying local music, apparel, art books and band merchandise. It is a useful stop for Taiwan’s contemporary music and small-publisher scene as much as for records.
Best for Local Taipei music, apparel, art books, and band merchandise
Dadaocheng / Datong
A family-run independent bookstore in a restored Japanese-era shophouse on Dihua Street. The family enterprise began here as Kuo Yi-mei general store in 1922 and was later converted into a bookstore by the founder’s grandson.
Best for Independent bookstore in a restored 1922 Japanese-era shophouse on Dihua Street
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