As an ’80s Hello Kitty kid, I jotted this down as my top itinerary during my recent Taiwan trip. When I finally laid my eyes on the Sanrio 7-Eleven in Taipei, I felt like a kid again—all warm and fuzzy inside. (Scroll down to the end to see the reel!)

Window-dressed with Hello Kitty as the main star, this Sanrio 7-Eleven in Ximending has her iconic bows painted on one window, and a lighted “Stay Cute” signage on the other. Her fellow Sanrio stars such as Pompompurin, Cinnamoroll, My Melody, and Gudetama are also displayed.

Inside, a life-sized statue of Hello Kitty holding a to-go coffee cup welcomes guests. Sanrio merch carts and shelves are displayed all over the store, along with regular shelves of 7-Eleven items. As you walk around, you’ll find Sanrio fixtures, decorations, LED signages on the ceiling, wall accents, and a cute pink checkout counter.

I’m disappointed that the current generation of Sanrio fans do not know who Keroppi is, hence his lack of exposure in most Sanrio-themed businesses these days, including this one.

For those dining in, there are special shadow box tables stuffed with Sanrio plushies. You can happily waste all your coins trying to win a Sanrio keychain plushie from the claw machines. Better yet, go straight to the gachapon machines for a guaranteed win.

Klook.com

Out of the 7,000+ 7-Elevens around Taiwan, over 100 of them are specially themed, featuring characters or brands such as Hello Kitty and her Sanrio friends, Snoopy and the Peanuts gang, Lay’s, Tomica, Pokemon, Mickey Mouse, and so much more!

While no country can beat Japan’s kawaii culture and culinary 7-Eleven experience (a far cry from what we have in the Philippines), Taiwan for me comes third, with Korea in second place. Taiwan’s themed 7-Elevens stand out as a tourist stop, where you get both the foodie experience and the “cuteness overload,” as we say in the kawaiiverse.

I ran into many other themed 7-Elevens during my recent Taiwan trip, including Snoopy and Lay’s, but I’ll save those for another post.

Travel tips: In Taiwan, most themed 7-Eleven stores are in Taipei and Kaohsiung, with some bigger and cleaner than the others. The themed stores aren’t permanent. They could get reset back to the standard 7-Eleven look or replaced with another theme.

Watch the reel:

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A post shared by Kate Alvarez (Kate Was Here) (@replikate)

Before you get tempted to splurge on all things Hello Kitty in Sanrio 7-Eleven, look for limited-edition or Taiwan-only items, like the cute EasyCard holder I purchased, and the Sanrio EasyCard, which I am still beating myself up for forgetting to buy. I had already purchased my regular EasyCard by the time I remembered.

If you’re a Hello Kitty fan like I am or Sanrio in general, the Sanrio-themed 7-Elevens in Taiwan are definitely worth the pit stop.