Hayashi Department Store, West Central Dist.
Drive about six minutes:
Hayashi Department Store (ハヤシ百貨) was known to the Tainan people as “The Five-Stories-House”(Gō͘-chàn-lâu-á). It was founded by Japanese businessman Hayashi Houichi. The Department Store formally opened on December 5th., 1932, just days after the first department store in Taiwan, Kikumoto Department Store, also known as The Seventh Heaven, opened in Taipei City. Thus Hayashi Department Store became the second large department store in Taiwan, as well as the largest department store in southern Taiwan.
Landscapes you must see:
(Retrieved from: http://www.hayashi.com.tw/eightlook.asp?nSub=A8A500&lang=E)
1.Shintoist Shrine at the Top Floor
The Shintoist shrine on the top floor of Hayashi Department Store is the only top floor shrine in a store left in Taiwan.
2.Marks of the WWII
During the Pacific Wars in WWII, Taiwan was bombed by American’s air raid.The marks and bullet holes left on the façade of Hayashi Department Store were already repaired during the restoration, but on the top floor visitors can still see the evidence of that ferocious attack.
3.Windows
There were wide windows on all the façades of Hayashi Department Store for a view of the streets.
At the corner there was round windows as a variation. Since the department store was one of the highest buildings in the area, the fifth floor was used as a restaurant, and a big hectagonal window was opened on the west side of the building, which was facing the Tainan Canal and Anping seaside, so to allow visitors to appreciate the sunset far away.
It was the most popular place among the intellectuals in the 1930s.
4.Elevator with Floor Indicator Dial
What made Hayashi Department Store famous at that time was the elevator in the store. It was one of the first places in southern Taiwan that had a modern elevator. It was operated by elevator girls.For people in Tainan the elevator was both a curiosity as well as fashionable attraction.
