The Neihu Wholesale Flower Market

I love markets! Especially if that means getting things for an extra good price in a setting that feels like an outing instead of an errand. This flower market totally fits the bill. Its pretty and it is the place for cheap cut flowers here in Taipei. (There’s also a second floor devoted to pots and flower arrangement accessories, and an entire other building selling potted plants!)

hours of opperation

It took Josh and I three attempts before we successfully made it to this market, because we  kept showing up at the wrong time, or day. This market has VERY limited hours! It’s a wholesale market for florists and whoever else buys massive quantities of cut flowers, so it opens crazy early somewhere between 3am – 4am for wholesale buyers and then welcomes the general public after 8am (not that our problem was arriving too early!). It’s open til noon Monday – Saturday. But NOT Sunday! Sunday it’s closed.

SATURDAY MORNING OUTING

Now that Josh and I’ve finally figured out when this place is open, I hope to make it a weekly Saturday outing. It’s about a 30 minute bus ride away from us. And the market is located right across the street from Costco and an RT Mart, so we can roll it in with other weekend errands. To be honest ,I pretty much hate shopping unless its at a market, garage sale or second hand store (of which Taipei only has the first). Costco & department stores like RT Mart clearly do not fit in those categories, so I’m never enthused about going to them. However, now there’s a flower market to sweeten the deal! Turns out all I need is a leisurely stroll threw a few hundred thousand flowers to transform my attitude towards grocery & household shopping. 🙂

WHERE:

As for where this is, just do a googlemap search for the Costco in Neihu.  You will see Taipei Flower sales Ltd. on the map right by it. Follow its public transport directions according to whichever part of the city you’re coming from!

I ended up buying two small bunches of flowers and putting them together into a bouquet when I got home. The total cost was $150 NT  which is approximately $5 USD.  I got a small discount on one of the bunches because it was close to closing time. Which is perfect – because I love discounts and sleeping in!

*A few tips on giving flowers as gifts

In case you do go to this market and find yourself wanting to share the beauty with friends or hosts… here’s a couple tips I’ve read about giving flowers here in Taiwan.

• DON’T give daisies or Chrysanthemums as gifts. Both are associated with funerals. Although I’m not sure about Gerber Daisies. I have read in multiple places that white flowers in general are associated with funerals.
• DO give an EVEN number of flowers. An odd number is considered bad luck. (See here for more info on gift giving etiquette in Taiwan) But DON’T give only 4 flowers! 4 is a particularly unlucky number in Chinese culture, so you always want to avoid that number when giving gifts.

This Taipei Times article has some nice information about Neihu flower market and about giving flowers, if you want to read more!