Hayashi Department Store (林百貨) opened in December 1932, and it is still a shop today: six floors of Tainan-made goods, Taiwanese design and snacks, with a small Shinto shrine on the roof. Entry is free, it's open every day from 11:00 to 21:00, and it's one of the easiest places in the old town to soak up the Japanese era without a ticket or a guide.
It sits at the edge of the civic core, a short walk from the old Prefectural Hall and the art museums. Facts below come from Hayashi's own site, Tainan's official travel site and the Taipei Times.
A short history
Hayashi was founded by Hayashi Hōichi (林方一), a merchant from Yamaguchi in Japan who came to Tainan in 1912. The store opened on 5 December 1932, two days after the Kikumoto store in Taipei, which made it Taiwan's second big department store and the largest modern one in the south. Locals nicknamed it the five-storey building (五棧樓仔). Hayashi himself had fallen ill, and he died on 10 December, days after the opening; his wife carried on the business.
The architect was Umezawa Sutejirō (梅澤捨次郎), who also designed the old Tainan police station, now the Tainan Art Museum Building 1. Work started in December 1931, and the building went up in less than a year, with a facade of washed stone and grooved tiles made to look like stone and brick.
The elevator, the shrine and the war
- The elevator: Hayashi had an elevator, a rare thing at the time, which locals called the 流籠, along with hand-operated steel roller shutters. Look for the old dial-style floor indicator, which Travel Tainan says may be the only one of its kind left in Taiwan. The old elevator shaft is one of the sights on the roof.
- The rooftop shrine: the Suehiro Shrine (末廣社) was set up in 1933 for the company and still stands on the roof, torii gate and all.
- The war: during World War II, US bombing left a hole in one of its walls, which has been kept as a link to the building's past.
Hayashi closed as a store in 1945. For decades it served as offices and living quarters for various state-run bodies, then sat empty. After restoration it opened for visits on 30 June 2013, and in 2014 it became a department store again.
The floors
Each floor has a theme. The shops change, so treat this as a rough guide:
- 1F, Lobby of Tainan: local goods, souvenirs and pop-up food
- 2F, Design of Tainan: crafts, design objects, fragrance and skincare
- 3F, Fashion of Tainan: clothing, bags, handmade shoes and gifts from Taiwanese brands
- 4F, Culture of Tainan: an arts space and small experience shops
- 5F, Delicacies of Tainan: Taiwanese snacks, the Hayashi Coffee café (林珈琲) and a douhua (tofu pudding) counter
- 6F and roof, View of Tainan: a Hayashi shop, the shrine, the observation deck and the old elevator shaft
Souvenirs
This is one of the best one-stop shops in town for gifts. Hayashi sells its own limited-edition goods under the Focus in HAYASHI name on several floors, and the first floor gathers local foods and souvenirs. Prices are shop prices, not market prices, but everything is under one roof, which counts for a lot on a hot afternoon.
Good to know
- Hours: 11:00 to 21:00, every day
- Entry: free
- Address: No. 63, Section 2, Zhongyi Road, West Central District (臺南市中西區忠義路二段63號)
- Getting there: from Tainan Station, walk down Zhongshan Road to the Tang Te-chang Memorial Park roundabout, turn right onto Zhongzheng Road, and it's about 1.2 km, 15 to 20 minutes in all. Buses 101, 7, 19 and Red Line stop at Hayashi (Zhongzheng Rd.) (林百貨(中正路)); the Blue Line stops at Hayashi (Zhongyi Rd.) (林百貨(忠義路)). From the high speed rail, take the Shalun Line train to Tainan Station first
Tips
- Head up to the roof and shrine first, then work your way down through the shops.
- It opens at 11:00, so see the nearby museums in the morning and come here for the hot middle of the day. Most of those museums close on Mondays, but Hayashi is open every day.
- It's open until 21:00, so it also works after dinner.
→ Hayashi and the civic core walk · → More Japanese-era landmarks
Sources
History, architect, elevator, shrine, hours, address and transport from Hayashi's history page and home page; floors from its floor guide. The floor indicator, war damage, 2013 and 2014 openings and free entry from Travel Tainan. The founder's arrival, the Kikumoto store and the postwar years from the Taipei Times (2015). Checked October 2026.