GM Shopping Mall

From our archives, Compass Magazine, JUN. 2002

By Douglas Habecker

If there seems to be fewer sidewalk vendors around the popular Ching Ming 1st Street “tea street” area recently, it is because they’ve gone underground, quite literally. This new underground shopping area has 1,500 pings of space and over 100 stores, stalls, snack bars and tea stands, giving it a bazaar-like feeling. Between 60 and 70 percent of the vendors here were orginally upstairs, selling all kinds of clothing, fashion accessories, watches and other items. On the sides, where there are some tables and seating, are a number of snack and drink stalls, including TV star Chou You’s Ah-Ku Old-Style Shaved Ice. There are a couple modest entrances to the shopping mall, one on Ching Cheng Road directly opposite Finga’s Italian Restaurant, and the other just up and around the corner on Tatun 19th Street.

B1-level below Ching Ming 1st Street area