The Kuanghua Digital New Plaza officially opened to the public yesterday, attracting a large crowd that crammed into the six-story building in search of bargains at Taipei City’s largest electronics market.
The plaza, located at the intersection of Civic Boulevard and Xinsheng N Road, was built to accommodate about 270 retailers after its predecessor, the landmark Kuanghua Market, was demolished two years ago.
The huge variety of electronic products ranging from computers and digital cameras to MP3 players and discounts of up to 50 percent attracted electronics lovers, who lined up in front of the plaza long before its grand opening at 10am yesterday.
In addition to offering discounts on various products and prize drawings every weekend until Aug. 16, the plaza also featured new lines of products from major manufactures Acer, ASUSTek, Intel, Sony and Xbox360, said Wang San-chung (王三中), a division chief at Taipei City’s Market Administration Office.
To ease the busy traffic around the plaza, the city government is planning to construct a pedestrian passage between MRT Zhongxiao Xinsheng Station and the plaza.
Luo Jun-sheng (羅俊昇), acting commissioner of Taipei City’s Public Works Department, said the city government was negotiating with local residents who are living in illegal buildings on the planned passage and hopes to start construction in September after it comes to terms with the residents over what kind of subsidies they should receive.
It would only take two months to tear down the illegal houses and complete the passage, Luo said.
Most retailers expressed optimism about business in the new plaza, although some were concerned about the higher rent in the new building.
“The monthly rent is double in the new place. We won’t know if we can make a profit in here until the end of the opening month,” said a woman surnamed Chang, a DVD retailer whose family had been doing business in Kunghua Market for more than 30 years.
The plaza, which cost the city government NT$700 million, was erected after former Taipei mayor Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration decided to tear down the Kuanghua overpass in 2006 because of safety concerns.
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