Mr.Liu Hung-Hsiang
Chairman,Development Association
Website：www.taipeiyongkang.com.tw/index.html

Establishment of Dongmen Yongkang Business District Development Association

At the beginning, the stores in Yongkang Business district didn’t want the Association to register officially since it will cause some inconvenience in terms of funding usage and regulations. So there was an unofficial organization named “Dongmen Yongkang Combination”, which would have events in Yongkang Park, and hosted family sport game in Jin Hwa Elementary School. In June 2011, the Dongmen Yongkang Business District Development Association was founded by the city government’s arrangement to bring all stores in.

President’s Experience

President Liu said that it won’t be very pressed to do the work since he was born here. However, he was selected by the members and this work is an official job, and thus it is an important mission. Especially, President Liu said bashfully, “Yongkang Business district is my home town since I was born and grew up here. So I have a stirring of emotion.” The President’s expectation is the grow-up in membership and annual fee. “Most stores understand who we are, although there are still a few stores don’t. But the feeling of frustration is not strong.” In addition, the President has to deal with different situations, including coordinating the stores to host events, the visitors’ complains about unreasonable price, and the placement of vagrants. He also has to take care of his own business. So his hard work is highly appreciated!

Motivation from residencies and stores

“When you plan some activities, you will have fulfillment if the outcomes are better than what you imagine. For example, many people think that the Yongkang Gathering Banquet and Yongkang Tea Party are very interesting and come to join them particularly. The media even posted our activities and thus we had some feedbacks,” the President recalled excitingly. “It’s not usual to see many kinds of activities in a business district. Our way is unique. In terms of the Gathering Banquet program, we ask some famous restaurants to prepare dishes for Chinese New Year Eve. In Christmas season, we prepare Christmas trees for our member stores. In this way, residencies and stores join our activities together and thus motivate us a lot!” You can tell that the activities hosted by the Association have activated the local development, brought everyone together, and made the President to be proud of this district.

Yongkang Business district and MRT’s open for business

It has taken a long time to build up the MRT system. Some big stores move away because of high rent and terrible transportation which causes difficult management. Many big companies move back when the MRT open for business, such as Lion Travel, and thus bring a lot of people. The President said, “In the past, money flow is not equal to people flow; visitors would not come to this district particularly. However, the convenient MRT brings a lot of people from many different places.” Now, just follow the guide map produced by the Association, you can find those great stores which offer discount within one month after the MRT’s open for business. To have better capacity to have more visitors, the President has suggested the city government to set Yongkang Business district as walking area on the weekend (Yongkang St. to Jinhwa St., 10am to 8pm). However, it may be very difficult to manage the area since we need to coordinate police station and volunteer police, and to secure the extra fee and human resource by ourselves.

Business district development vs. residency peace

In terms of business district development and residency peace, the President said, “Yongkang Business district is not night market; no vendor but stores mostly. So the antagonism between stores and residencies is not strong.” Originally, the President would like to ask those stores to sign an agreement to close the stores by 10pm, for balancing the relationship between the stores and neighborhood. “If all car ways will be changed as passenger ways, visitors will be safer but residencies will have more difficulties when they drive out and in,” said the President. So, you can tell that the President would consider not only the business interest, but also the residency’s life. In addition, for developing the district, the President will produce the guide brochure yearly; he does have really given thought to this district.

Small but beautiful outdoor shopping mall

If we would like to have just one sentence to describe Yongkang Business district, the President would say that the district is “small but beautiful”. “The area is not big and the way is not broad. However, looking at this district with more details, you will get many kinds of surprises and discoveries, like what you will find in an outdoor shopping mall,” said the President. Yongkang Business district doesn’t have commercialized package; in addition you won’t feel crowded and noisy in this district. Just because of the Association, the district can maintain its character of “small and beauty!”