The venerable little store that two decades ago when I arrived was about the only place to get imported canned goods and the like is closing its doors. Always a bit overpriced, the larger international supermarkets with similar and more often than not an even better selection of goods, finally forced it to shut down.
They still have a selection of stuff that isnât sold at most places, except at Willieâs deli, which has similar stuff.
Oh, bummer. When I walked past it the other day they were in the process of pulling out the product and shelves. I was hoping that meant they were remodeling, not closing.
I agree with the previous poster: Both Wellmanâs and Willieâs have (or had) very similar inventory, including quite a few things you still canât find at Carrefour, Jasonâs, Cityâs Super, or anywhere else in Tianmu as far as I know. And actually, on many of the items that Carrefour does carry, Wellmanâs had slightly better prices. I wouldnât have called them overpriced at all for imported western groceries in Taiwan.
Their canned goods were always 10 to 20 NT more than any other store and many times the cans were past their due dates.
Sorry, for reopening 200 day old topic, butâŚ
Great. So, where can I find Phyllo dough now? Wellmans was the only place I could find it. Or, at least the only place I thought to look.
Check any of the baking stores?
I did that. All around me, all they seem to carry is puff pastry. From Hsinchu to Taichung to Taoyuan to Taipei, nothing. Wellmans had 3 boxes one time, I bought them all. My burek cup ranneth over.
I guess it is just not a thing here. I could make it myself, but that is an incredible pain in the guzi.
Hand-rolling dough for burek is an art and dark science, and I have no talent to speak of for that.
Yep, thereâs a reason they tell you to go buy it at the store 
I searched but couldnât find a thread on Willieâs Deli (former G&G). Does anyone know if theyâre still around? Couldnât get answers on their phone line or by Messenger. (Am looking for Brer Rabbit mild flavor molasses and canned cranberry sauce.)
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Theyâre still around. Closed today it seems. Carrefour in Tienmu had canned cranberry in stock, just fyi.
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Willieâs/G&G is still around, the owner is still awesome, and itâs where I find most of the stuff I used to find at Wellmanâs. I donât even know what phyllo dough is, though.
Whatâs up with people who spell Tianmu âTienmu,â by the way?
Itâs a long-standing alternate spelling.
Flaky pastry dough, spelled filo as well.
Itâs used enough here and in Facebook groups (mostly by people who live in Taiwan but not in Tianmu, it seems) that I thought it was an alternate spelling, but you wonât find it listed on anything official. Even elsewhere online itâs rare enough that when you google it you get, âDo you mean Tianmu?â Iâve lived in Tianmu for a decade, and âTienmuâ has always just looked like an uninformed misspelling to me.
Hope you find your dough, though. Iâm surprised the major baking supply stores like the one in Banqiao donât have it? Maybe they would only have the ingredients to make it from scratch.
Yeah, itâs kind of a holdover from pre-hanyu pinyin days when it had some currency.
Not my dough
I know a few foreigners who have lived in Tianmu for like thirty years, and they spell it with an âeâ so I presume that is how it used to be back in the day. Some signs near my work still spell it as Tienmu. Iâll try and take some photos tomorrow.
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Apparently it was the common spelling up until 20+ years ago, though it was never correct.
At any rate, itâs an understatement to say weâre well past time for it to die, which was my main point. Sorry for the thread hijack.
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Good gravedig.