Driven by an influx of cafes and souvenir stores, rents are rising in Taipei’s historic Dadaocheng (大稻埕) area, leading to economic hardships for the area’s established firms and fierce competition among new ones.
Three years ago, restaurants, cafes and souvenir stores aimed at young people and tourists began proliferating in the area, one of Taipei’s centers for the creative and culture industry.
However, gentrification and an ensuing rise in rents have had a negative effect on many businesses, realtors and local business owners said.
Photo: Huang Chien-hao, Taipei Times
Many of the new businesses do not survive their first year and many stores have changed hands three times in as many years, said Chiu Yi (邱翊), executive officer of the Daodocheng-based Taipei Walking Tour agency.
He said he has told the Taipei City Government that rising rents are responsible for the phenomenon.
“Historic streets need more than fancy ideas to survive. Adding cultural-and-creative venues and cafes while ignoring the local community’s feelings will drive away local consumers, leaving only businesses that cater to tourists,” he said.
Dadaocheng Tourism Information Station founder Lu Ta-chi (呂大吉) said many business owners are attracted by the area’s growing popularity and rents are on the increase even on Dihua Street’s outlying lanes and alleys.
In the past two or three years, rents for shopfronts on the southern end of Dihua Street, where most of the businesses are located, have increased from between NT$80,000 and NT$100,000 to between NT$150,000 and NT$200,000, Lu said.
The typical monthly rent for a store in alleys near Dihua Street has nearly doubled, rising from between NT$20,000 and NT$30,000 to between NT$40,000 and NT$50,000, Lu said.
According to the owner of a natural foods store that has been in business on Dihua Street for about six months, a 15 ping (45.38m2) lot in the area is typically rented at NT$2,000 per ping, and a souvenir store — which requires more space — pays about NT$43,000 per month for rent, or about NT$1,800 per ping.
The rents for stores near Xia Hai City God Temple (霞海城隍廟), between Dihua Street, Sec 1’s Lane 16 and Lane 72 are double those of similar venues a five-minute drive away, the owner said.
While rental prices on Dihua Street have risen, they have never been cheap, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房屋) realtor Chen Yen-chieh (陳彥傑) said.
Venues are usually rented out for between NT$3,000 and NT$5,000 per ping, and the average monthly rent for a store is more than NT$150,000, Chen said.
In the past, most people who owned properties in Dihua Street’s alleys offered the ground floor for lease and used the rest of the building for storage or as a residence, Chen said.
Overall, rents for such properties have increased by more than 20 percent and some landlords have hiked rates by as much as 30 percent, Chen said.
According to online rental platforms, the rental rates for Dihua Street properties are comparable with rents for commercial properties on Tianmu West Road near the Shinkong Mitsukoshi Mall in the Tianmu (天母) area.
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