Fortunately,
finding places to purchase Christmas-related items, from
trees to cards, is getting easier and easier in Taichung.
While there is scant chance of purchasing a real Christmas
tree, there are plenty of options in shops around town for
purchasing decent-looking (plus some very gaudy-looking)
fake trees in addition to decorations, lights, wreaths,
poinsettia flowers, Christmas cards and other things.
In addition to
the stores listed below, you may want to browse through
the city's department stores and book stores, as most are
also selling Christmas items.
There are a number
of dedicated Christmas decoration stores about the city
which provide a broad selection of trees, lights, tinsel,
wreaths and other seasonal decorations. Among these,
one of the most classy is Colorful Life (410, Tunghsing
Rd.; tel. 320-2050), which is located opposite The Landis
Hotel and ordinarily deals in plants and trees. Every
Christmas, however, the store is completely revamped to
handle holiday items, including attractive trees and wreaths.
It's open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Another
good option for finding a good variety of Christmas stuff
is HOLA (House of Living Art), which has hauled out
all kinds of trees, decorations and cards to join its usual
selection of upscale, Western-style home furnishings and
decorations. HOLA (tel. 319-5755), located opposite
the Evergreen Laurel Hotel, is at 1-5, Taichung Kang Rd.,
sec. 2 and is open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The Christmas
Store, as its name implies is another dedicated Christmas
outlet, packed full of items, from the gaudy (orange trees)
to the classy. There are two branch stores, both open
from 9 a.m. to about 10 p.m. The first is at 324,
Hankou Road, section 2 (tel. 312-6532), on a corner where
it crosses a canal not far from the intersection with Hsitun
Road. The second is at 1-75, Wuchuan Road (tel. 373-0530).
It's about two traffic lights south of the Wuchuan/Wuchuan
West Road intersection.
Another shop
selling trees, flowers and other items for the holiday season
is Posun Ching Chih Flower House (48, Hankou Road,
sec. 4; tel. 296-5499) which, for those last-minute, late-night
shoppers, is open 24 hours a day and located near Taya Road.
No doubt there
are plenty of other Christmas shopping outlets of various
sizes around town. Several shops, notably a few near
Feng Chia University along Fushing Road, are selling a fairly
respectable variety of Christmas trees, various decorations
and other items. Once again this year, we would like
to conclude by kindly requesting that you keep Taichung
free of visual pollution by resisting the urge to buy that
cute purple-glitter Christmas tree.
