Taipei Stationery Hotspots

Stationery addiction’s a national trend. Not only are illustrators designing new products and producing washi tape from their artworks, we can see new stationery boutiques popping up all over the place. Some are nestled within local cafes, some are sold in wholesale stores, and some are hidden in such secretive places that only the stationery addicts know where to go. For the stationery lovers out there that would like to check out the stationery scene in Taipei, I will make a brief guide to the kinds of stationery stores that you can find here!

Large Stationery Stores

  • Jieu Da Stationery 久大文具行
  • Guang Nan 光南
  • Stepping Stone 墊腳石
  • Kingstone 金石堂
  • San ming bookstore 三民書局
  • Eslite 誠品書局
  • Kinokuniya 紀伊國書店
  • Tokyu Hands 台隆手創館
  • JSF Mall 金興發

Entering these large stationery stores is like going into candy land for stationery fanatics. The selection is large and varied. From pens to folders and from washi to art supplies, there are too much to choose from, and at very cheap prices too. Jieu Da Stationery & Guang Nan are stationery stores that are the favourites among students, because of their relatively affordable prices of all kinds of pen and paper tools for student use and normal office supplies. Jieu Da offers membership cards and you can buy things at up to 20% off normal market prices. Guang Nan offers similar selection of stationery at already discounted prices. Stepping Stone & Kingstone bookstores have a whole floor dedicated to stationery supplies, and they have more authentic Taiwanese designer stationery in stock. The best location to browse through all four of these stores are at Taipei Main Station.

Another three Bookstore/Stationery Stores are San Ming, Eslite, and Kinokuniya. San Ming Bookstore carries more stationery items that are from Taiwanese wholesale stationery companies, including designer’s washi such as Kikisui and Chuyo. Eslite goes for a more modern look and features imported stationery items at higher prices. Its bookstore are beautifully designed and is great place to while away the day. Kinokuniya offers more Japanese oriented stationery items such as Midori Traveler’s Notebook items and fabric pouches. If you are visiting the Kinokuniya at Breeze Center, make sure to check out Tokyu Hands just a few floors above to see more Japanese stationery items!
If you are visiting the famous Shilin Nightmarket in Taiwan, then there is another stationery store that you must not miss. JSF Mall (pronounced Jin Shin Fa) is right next to the night market. It has the most selection of diary stickers and at super valuable prices. Many of their notebook and stationery items are Korean-inspired but made in China. You can also find many Taiwanese brand stationery in this store as well~
Unique Stationery Boutiques

  • Tools to Liveby 禮拜文房具
  • Vision Stationery 明進文房具 (review here)
  • 1 over 1 Workshop 一分之一工作室
  • Plain Stationery 直物文房具
  • Hsiao Pin Ya Ji 小品雅集
  • Pinmo Liang Han Paper Lab 品墨良行 巷內店

These boutique stationery stores offers more selected items, and their owners are all stationery addicts as well. The items that they chose from Japan, Europe, or even locally designed are very tasteful and beautiful. The environment is very quiet and homey, and all the stationery items are laid out like pieces of art. Tools to Liveby is a local favourite because they designed many stationery items themselves. Their most favoured items are the beautiful scissors and gold and silver midori clips. Vision Stationery has a very friendly owner who lives to provide quality paper that are fit for fountain pen. He offers a variety of Midori Traveler’s Notebook items as well (usually at the most valued price in Taipei). 1 over 1 Workshop is easy to overlook if you don’t follow the address, because it is within a neighbourhood apartment and you actually have to be buzzed up through the door bell to enter. A unique feature of this workshop is that they have a table dedicated for you to test out their planners and journals and many pens you can use to test-write. Hsiao Pin Ya Ji is the place to go if you are a fountain pen lover, where they offer a variety of selection from beginner’s to more expensive brands. It’s actually the friendly customers there that would often pat you on the shoulder and give you recommendation on what to buy. I’ve yet to visit Plain Stationery but it’s also on my bucket list~ Pinmo Liang Han Paper Lab is also an interesting stationery boutique to visit. Their feature products are handmade notebooks and paper products!

Stationery Cafes

  • Treellage Life Cafe 樹樂集
  • 61 Note Shop & Tea
  • Mogu Cafe 蘑菇
  • Ryou Cafe 日楞咖啡
  • Meet Bear 覓熊咖啡店

Online Venues

  • Masking-tape.tw 小徑文化
  • books.com.tw 博客來

25 thoughts on “Taipei Stationery Hotspots”

  1. June says:
    Reply

    Thanks for this list! I’ve been researching for a trip to Taipei and I have not been able to find such a comprehensive list!

    I’ll be bringing my TN with me too!

    Liked by 1 person

  2. huixin says:
    Reply

    thanks for the list! it does come handy. can I check with you which bookstores are worth visiting if I would like to buy Midori traveler’s notebook? & the price range for it? thanks in advance! ^^

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  3. Pam says:
    Reply

    Jieu Da Stationery, Guang Nan, Stepping Stone & Kingstone
    You mentioned that all these four are at Taipei Main Station, may I know if these are all walking distance from each other? Are they outside Taipei Main Station MRT? Thanks in advance!

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  4. myin1124 says:
    Reply

    Thanks so much for the guide. I had fond memories of a visit to Taiwanese family over 30 years ago and was excited to bring my children there (from the U.S.) for the first time. We had fun going to JSF, Kingstone, Jiu Da and Guang Nan. JSF and Guang Nan had the greatest selection. It was stationery paradise! In our glee of what to buy, I confused deco tape with correction tape, and learned about a whole new product: DECO tape! A mistake with positive consequences.
    We could not have done it all without your guide!

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    • aprilwu72 says:
      Reply

      I’m so glad you had a great time in Taipei! Yes, my personal favorite is JSF as well, because of all the stickers available!! Guang Nan has a variety of pens as well, where I always stock up before leaving the country 😉

      Like

  5. Tracy says:
    Reply

    Hi! 🙂

    i will be visiting Taiwan in 2 months time and i was doing some research on the available stationary shopping areas and i chanced upon your post. It’s really helpful and comprehensive.

    Thanks a lot for the effort in doing this up! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  6. tokubetsumemori says:
    Reply

    I’m more of an washi tape hoarder so I have visited most of these stores. I’ve noticed that all of these stores, or most of these stores does not sell the washi tapes that are sold in masking-tape.tw website and I was wondering if you know some stores that sells washi tapes from there? Kingstone Bookstore is the only bookstore that I’ve seen. I’m not sure if you are also a washi tape hoarder like me haha.

    Liked by 1 person

    • tokubetsumemori says:
      Reply

      Also.. can you explain what stationary cafes are? Are they like locations to meeting new people who also share the same stationary addict interest? Because I want to meet some people who share the same washi tape interests but I don’t know where I can find them…

      Liked by 1 person

      • aprilwu72 says:

        The stationery cafes I mentioned are actually just cafes but they have a stationery-themed element or sells stationery as some extra products in the cafe. To find like minded stationery addict, i would suggest exploring Instagram and the online community and suggest meetups!

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    • aprilwu72 says:
      Reply

      Because most of those washi tapes you mentioned are created and sold by individual illustrators from Asia. It is rare that the bigger retail stores would have them for sale at physical locations. However, I noticed that masking-tape.tw has a physical store in Kaohsiung, so you might want to check that out!

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      • aprilwu72 says:

        Now that I think about it more, there is a store nestled in a market near Gongguan that specializes in all kinds of washi tape…and is apparently a huge rabbit hole for stationery hoarders… The store is called “理想の部屋” and here is the address: No. 92, Section 4, Roosevelt Rd, Zhongzheng District, Taipei City, Taiwan 100
        https://www.facebook.com/JPshopping2014/

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      • tokubetsumemori says:

        Haha, I just found out about the 理想の部屋 in Gongguan literally a week before since I live near NTU (actually studying there now) so my friend showed it to me. I was hoping if there are other stores like 理想の部屋 that sells stuff like that. And yeahhh I know Kaohsiung has its store opening over there but omg I literally have to travel across Taiwan to go over there which I know I won’t do it sometime near the future, so I was hoping Taipei would have something like that siggghhhhh

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  7. Jyimei says:
    Reply

    Hello! I love your list! I’m currently living in Taipei and I wanted to find some good highliters – thanks to you, I did!
    I cannot find the journal I’m interested in, though. I found some Hobonichi in Eslite close to Taipei 101, I found some Leuchtturm in two places, but haven’t found Leuchtturm that I can actually OPEN and touch the paper, let alone see the inside. Or basically any other kind of better-quality dotted paper notebook. Any suggestions? If Leuchtturm is produced in Taiwan, then it should be possible to find it in tons of places and in quite an abundance – but I don’t know where to go :<

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  8. Pingback: Stationery shopping in Taipei | East…West…Everywhere
  11. Eliza says:
    Reply

    Thank you for this list, I had it bookmarked and even had screenshots. I dedicated 2 days of my 7-day trip for stationery shopping. While I didn’t get to do all the stores on the list, it was extremely helpful.

    Unfortunately, the Kingstone bookstore near Taipei Main Station (M6 exit) is no longer there.

    Even before I read your blog, Hsiao Pin Ya Ji was foremost on my list. It is also known as Ty Lee (tylee.tw). Staff are very friendly, prices are so much lower than mall prices. They offer additional discounts for cash purchases on pens.

    Tools to Live By was worth the trip. Their store was a visual feast. I appreciated their locally designed and locally made brass rulers and scissors. When I travel, I always try to find local stationery products and that serves as my souvenir.

    One thing to add is that stores like Eslite and Tools to Live By have stamping stations where you can stamp on your travelers notebooks. A very common thing in Taiwain. It can also serve as a souvenir.

    Again, thank you for putting the list together.

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  12. Cathy says:
    Reply

    Thank you for this list! I’ve been having a hard time figuring out where to go for stationery. I’m looking for the hedgehog hobonichi weeks 2018 but the only place I’ve even seen hobonichis is in the eslite near Taipei City Hall, and the selection was so small (no hedgehog) Any clues to the best place to find it is?

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