A STROLL THROUGH TAICHUNG CENTRAL

By Douglas Habecker Translated by Rachel Chiou

Although Tiger City has been getting the lion's--or, rather, tiger's--share of attention over the past month or two, there's no forgetting the city's other shopping mall, Taichung Central, which is continuing to draw its own crowds.

Located in south Taichung behind the railroad station, Taichung Central is the larger of the city's two malls with 118,500 square meters (about 36,000 pings) of space on 17 levels. Designed by an American retail architecture firm, this big, neon-lit complex now towers over Central District and includes about 300 shops, cafes, restaurants and other vendors. Men's, women's and kids' fashions, shoes, toys, books, health and beauty products, electronics, jewelry and much, much more can be found here.

The biggest occupants are a Warner Village cinema complex, with 10 screens and about 3,000 seats on the fourth and fifth floors; a two-level basement Geant hypermarket; a two-level SEGA World amusement complex on the eighth floor; and a ninth-floor World Gym Fitness Center, the first of its kind in Taiwan and the largest gym in the city. On the same floor is Aztec Internet cafe, althought "cafe" doesn't quite describe this place--touted as the world's second-largest--with 600 terminals and over 1,000 pings of space.

The mall also has a 500-ping food court and a three-floor 1,200-space basement parking area. The basement food court has everything from a TCBY yogurt counter to a Kulu Kulu mechanical sushi bar. Scattered throughout the building are other larger restaurants and cafes, such as California Kitchen, Skylark, Ranch 1, Little Mei Nan Town Thai restaurant, and Aquarius and Kohikan cafes.

Due to Taichung Central's location, on the opposite side of the city from Tiger City, management at both malls do not see each other as direct competitors. Rather, Taichung Central targets residents of the city's Central, South and East districts, and Taichung county's nearby Taiping and Tali cities. These people, and many others from across the city, are discovering that it's hard to beat the one-stop shopping, dining, entertainment and fitness options offered by Taichung's first real shopping center.

(Taichung Central is located at 186, FuShing Rd., sec. 4 and may be contacted at 04-3611-8888. With the exception of World Gym, which opens at 6 am, the mall opens at 11 am. Retailers are open to 10 pm and most dining/entertainment venues are open to midnight.)