Free Shops in Taiwan

Free Shop Rules.

1. Please read the rules.

2. Take what you need, and leave what you do not need.

3. Exchange is not necessary. You are free to take without giving anything in return.

4. Do not take things which are not in Free Shop!

5. Free shop is not a place for people to throw away the trash. (then go to shop more)

6. Free Shop is maintained by all the attendants. (Please keep it tidy)

7. Forget about all these rule, every free shop can make its own rule.

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Few years ago, I heard about the idea of Free Shop in Croatia. And I really love it.


So when I came back to Taiwan, I started to traveling around the island and introducing the idea to Taiwanese people.




I gave some lectures in schools, or local community centers. 

I also hold some free picnic event with other friends.

We invited people to bring what they don't want to use or eat any more. We gathered those foods and goods, then share them to everyone.


There were even people who decide to share what they can do.Like doing massage, playing music, or language exchange.

After we introduced this Free Shop or Gift Economy idea,
people around Taiwan started to think about what they can do.

And now....there are more and more free shops or food sharing corners popping up around Taiwan.



Here are some pictures of them.

Free Shops in Taiwan

Missgreen (Taipei)

Church (Taipei)

十二寮 (Hsingchu)

南屯咕咕 brunch restaurant (Taichung)

University (Taichung)

Yunlin technology university(Douliu, Yunlin)

新營人我送你 (Xinyin, Tainan)

(An Pin, Tainan)

School (Feng Shan, Kaohsiung)

School (Kaohsiung)

有間書店 Bookstore (Meinung, Kauhsiung)

有人在家 guest house(Taitung)

Lazy house hostel (Hualien)

(I will try to make an English version as soon as possible....)

Below are more introduction for Free Shop.

The birth of Free Shop

“People were created to be loved, and things were created to be used”, 

The reason why the world is in such chaos, is because things are being loved, and people are being used.”

We are living in a society that everyone thinks the job is exhausting, it hard to earn money, what we need is expensive, and the renting is getting higher and higher.

However, in the same time, there are just so many things we have bought but we just put them aside in the corner, which even occupied a part of space that we paid a lot for.

We need is a place where people can share, not just throw away to the trash can.

We need a place where people can reuse the things which are no longer available for their owners and reduce the unnecessary waste.

We need a place where people can be helped when they need……and be helpful when someone is needed.

That is where Free Shop comes！

A Free Shop is a place where all the resources are shared freely.

People share the things they don't need, to the Free Shop.
They ask nothing in return, they just hope these things can be used again.

Free Shop is not a business.

Free Shop doesn't need any cost for running.

Free Shop is not a charity, it doesn't rely on the donation nor focus on specific people.

Free Shop is self-organized by all the attendants who support this idea.

Free Shop can be any size in any places.  It can be a room, a cabinet, a box or a closet. It can be in a coffee shop, a bookstore, a classroom, an office or a community center.

What we want is not a huge Free Shop where you can get anything.

What we want to do is to set many small Free Shops where people can just walk there.

If we do have the same concepts of the Free Shop, everyone can be creative to manage his/her Free Shop or to start the Free Market.

And yes, we can definitely live a better life, with less resource.