If you’re moving to or have just moved to Taiwan and more specifically in this case, Taipei (as it’s the part of the country I’m familiar with), it can be hard to find certain things, as you’ll most likely not recognize any of the supermarkets here from back home, unless you’ve got Carrefour, Geant (now A-Mart in Taiwan) or maybe a Costco in your country. Even so, don’t expect to find the same stock of things as you would back home, as Taiwan doesn’t seem to import a lot of products.
People here eat quite different things from Westerners and even other Asians and as such, the supermarkets stock mostly what the locals eat. I’ve compiled a list of all the local supermarkets below and I have written a short description about the ones I’ve been to. If anyone has additional information, please feel free to get in touch.
Carrefour is the biggest supermarket in Taiwan and as a French company, they stock some imported items, although depending on where you live these things might sell our more quickly than in some other areas and the selection also vary. They have specials at times when they import a selected amount of items from specific countries and they’ve had big drives for US food and Thai food in the past. They stock things like yogurt (although quite expensive and usually not that good), French cheese (again quite expensive), cereal (also quite expensive), a wide range of tinned and canned food and of course French wine. Some Carrefours are open 24h, seven days a week.
In 2021, Carrefour bought out Wellcome in Taiwan and all Wellcome’s have been converted into Carrefour Market, smaller sized supermarkets of which there already was some 66 of in Taiwan. At the end of the takeover there will be some 262 Carrefour Markets island wide. Carrefour is also taking over Jasons Market Place, but it’ll continue to operate independently until at least 2023. It’s also possible to shop on Carrefour online now, although the online shop is quite clunky and has a fairly limited selection compared to what you can get in-store. As of June 2022, Carrefour has agreed to sell its Taiwanese business to Uni-President, the owner of 7-11 in Taiwan. It’s expected that Uni-President will take over Carrefour in Taiwan sometime in 2023.
A-mart (Previously known as Geant) is another French supermarket chain, but generally it’s a lot more localized than Carrefour and you won’t find the same amount of imported items here. That said, A-Mart is generally a bit cheaper than Carrefour, but there aren’t as many around. A-Mart tend to stock slightly different brands and items than Carrefour and it’s a good place to have a look in if you can’t find what you’re looking for in Carrefour. Again, the various shops seems to carry different items, so just because one A-mart has it doesn’t mean you’ll find it on another one. The larger the store, the bigger chance that they’ll have something a bit more special it seems.
RT Mart is a local supermarket that has a partnership with French Auchan and as such they carry a fair share of imported goods. They got a lot of own brand import items such as pasta, sauces, etc and it’s all imported from Europe and has pretty good quality. They also carry a small range of organic items. From time to time they also have a lot special time limited imports from both Asia, Europe and the US. RT-Mart also have a large selection of imported beer and alcohol. As with most supermarkets here, the available items will vary from shop to shop, but the one in Xindian is the only one I normally frequent and from time to time they have a lot of good imported goods, but it’s usually not things that are in stock for long, so if you see something you want, get it there and then, as it might not be available next week.
PX Mart is a budget supermarket that has expanded a lot, as they took over a government-run chain of supermarkets as well as a Japanese chain that was called Matsusei. They mostly sell local stuff, but tend to have a few imported items as well. Generally quite a cheap place, but most stores don’t sell things like fruit, vegetables and unprocessed meat. Recently they’ve launched a few higher-end shops that have more imported items and better quality groceries. PX Mart bought RT Mart in June 2022, but will be operating the two chains independently for now.
Taisuco, the Taiwan Sugar company, also has a few large stores in southern Taiwan, although I don’t have any experience with these stores. They’re meant to offer discount coupon books (similar to Costco) a couple of times a year ranging from NT$1,000-3,000 in terms of discount, with with each coupon being worth about NT$100. (Thanks to TainanCowboy from Forumosa for the update). They seem to have mostly moved online now though and the link above is to their online store.
Simple Mart is another budget chain which is more of a convenience store than a real supermarket. They do have a lot more food items than 7-11 though, so by Taiwan standards it’s a supermarket. They tend to have the odd imported items and they’re generally price competitive.
For those with a bit more money to spend, there are also some upmarket supermarkets here, although there’s only a few of them, so you’ll have to do some traveling to get there in most cases.
Kaldi Coffee Farm is a Japanese supermarket of sorts, that focuses on selling coffee as the name implies. They also have a range of odd imports from Japan, South East Asia and Europe. You never quite know what you’ll find here and they always have some kind of specials going. The pricing isn’t great for a lot of things, but apparently their coffee is decent and ground fresh at each location when ordered.
Mia C’bon is the new name for Jasons Market Place, of which the most well known one is located in the bottom of the 101. They used to have a wide selection of imported food from all-over the world, but the store in the 101 building has about halved in size due to the fact that Din Tai Fong moved in next door and took over a lot of their space, so it’s not as good of a supermarket as it was some years ago. As of 2021, Carrefour took over Jasons Market Place, as part of their buyout of Wellcome. The renaming to Mia C’bon happened in 2022, as the Jasons Market Place name was apparently not part of the transfer of the stores to Carrefour. I haven’t visited any of the new stores, so I don’t know if there’s been a change or not in terms of what’s on offer, but they’re very much still an upmarket supermarket.
C!ty’super was the biggest competitor to Jasons and offers a wide range of imported goods, although more so from Japan, than from other parts of the world. They used to have the best deli counter in Taipei, but the last couple of years things have gone downhill and the selection has halved. They have a range of imported deli-meats and cheeses, but the selection can vary immensely depending on when they get new stock in. This is also a good place for various other odds and ends such as fancy olive oil, tinned/canned goods and some harder to find baking ingredients. If you didn’t find what you were looking for in Jason’s, this might be the next best place to find it.
Breeze super is as far as I know, a one-off supermarket located in the basement of the Breeze Center on FuXing South Road. This is a Japanese supermarket, but they import a lot of stuff from all-over the world, although most of what they offer is available in Jason’s or C!ty’super. It’s possibly the most expensive supermarket in Taiwan and doesn’t seem to be available outside of greater Taipei area.
Shin Kong Mitsukoshi also has its own supermarkets, although not every store has one. They mainly stock Japanese food, but as with most of these upmarket stores, you can also find some imported items. Recently it seems like their selection of imported items from outside of Asia has shrunk somewhat, possibly due to poor sales.
Costco is the place to go to if you have a big fridge and freezer to fill. I’d suggest getting a Costco membership, it’s currently NT$1,350 for a year and you’ll save it on your first couple of trips there. It’s the cheapest place for cereal (bulk size), cheese, meat and loads of other stuff. More recently they’ve also started to carry things like Greek yoghurt and feta cheese and they also have smaller packs of cheese that you might have a chance to finish before it goes moldy. You can also get other useful things here like bread makers, small ovens (ovens aren’t a common household item in Taiwan, but more on that another time) and just about anything else you could need for your kitchen. Costco has recently (in 2014) updated their website and is posting all their special offers on the website now, in both Chinese and English. It’s also possible to shop online, but you need to have a Costco branded credit card to do so and it might be easier to get blood from a stone than to get one these days, as Cathay United Bank took over the credit card partnership some years ago and they normally won’t give credit cards to non Taiwanese.
IKEA also stocks a certain amount of imported Swedish food, although the selection isn’t huge, it is a great place for us Scandinavians to go when we have a craving for something from home. That said, more and more stuff from IKEA is no longer made in Sweden, but rather by whatever partner IKEA wants to work with and branded IKEA. The store near the Taipei arena (inside Asiaworld) usually sells out really quick, so if you’re trying to get hold of something special, you might want to try to get to one of the other stores. They normally stock things like tunnbröd, knäckebröd, jam, frozen meatballs and veggies, as well as a selection of Swedish drinks, sweets and crisps. IKEA also stocks some Swedish cheese and sells “freshly baked” bread, which imported frozen and baked in Taiwan. They also have a selection of Swedish cider, beer and alcohol. This is also the only place to get Julmust when it’s that time of the year and they’ve even sold frozen crayfish.
HOLA is a local version of IKEA to some fashion and they also sell a few food items, mostly imported things and you can find some bargains there at times. They have various size stores and the larger ones usually have a bigger selection of grocery items. It’s also a place where you can pick up a lot of other kitchen items, like pots and pans and various kitchen tools. They merged with the local B&Q equivalent (which used to be B&Q once upon a time) a while ago, hence the odd website.
Another place that I have yet to visit that sells food in bulk is PnP food which seems to stock a lot of specialty items. They normally sell to the hotel and catering business, but they will sell to walk-ins at their warehouse address which can be found on their website. They will also order in special things for you, but be prepared to order large amounts at a time.
There are also a lot of local baking supply shops which can have a lot of specialty items. One of the better ones, at least if you’re looking for things like fresh yeast, rye flour and other things for making bread, would he a place called JiaYuan Food in Xindian.
Another handy place which it seems I’d forgotten to add to my list is Trinity Indian Stores which has a couple of location in Taipei City. Beyond Indian ingredients, they stock a fairly decent range of spices, often much cheaper than what you’d find in the local supermarkets. Their shop locations can be a bit tricky to find if you haven’t been before. The easiest one to locate is the one near City Hall MRT station.
If you live down south, or don’t mind getting your food delivered, there’s also the EU Pantry in Kaohsiung. I’ve placed a few orders with them and in general their products are of good quality. They sell a lot of hard to find items, as well as meat in larger chunks. Unfortunately they have quite limited stock of many things and do sell out. Prices are also on the higher side.
I’ve also found a place that sells venison, if that’s your kind of thing. Rou by T-Ham sells a lot of imported meat, as well as some local items and the aforementioned venison, which is imported from New Zealand. Prices are on the high side, but the venison is very good.
Although technically online, Little Europe sells various imported European snacks and condiments, but also make German style sausages and some other meat products and condiments locally in Taiwan. It’s possibly the only place in Taiwan where you can get hold of salty liquorice as well. The locally made products are of good quality, but don’t expect them to be super cheap just because it’s made locally.
Other places to do your shopping in are convenience stores, there are more 7-11’s in Taiwan than in the whole of the USA and no less than 9,100 of them spread across the country with more opening all the time. Then there’s of course FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK Mart. You can do a lot of other useful things in convenience stores in Taiwan too, like pay your bills, parking fees and collect C.O.D. packages etc. Most of the convenience stores also have an ATM. To find your local shop, either look out the window or head over to Google Maps where most of them tend to be listed these days.
It’s also worth visiting your local “wet market” which might have many of the items you’d want, especially fruit and vegetables which can be of much better quality and at lower prices than what you’d get in the supermarkets. Local stores can also stock various hard to find items and I found that a very local little vegetable and what not shop near where I lived stock beetroot when it’s in season, although these days it’s quite common in most supermarkets. The flower markets might also be good for fresh herbs and things like chili plants, although you’d have to have space to put the plants somewhere.
This post was last updated on the 16th of May 2023.