Category: Shopping

Nataly should actually be writing this post but since she doesn’t post much anymore I am going to post about it. We passed by LUSH tonight in Central Plaza which opened not too long ago and the place honestly makes The Body Shop feel like McDonalds. They have some really cool soaps that all smell amazingly good and are very natural and handmade. You buy the soaps per gram and although the prices aren’t cheap its kinda understandable why they cost this much. Although there isn’t anything else in Central Plaza to check out its worth passing by just for LUSH. [Link]

I was looking for an ATM machine today morning when I stumbled up this new Alghanim branch in Kuwait City. Its in the mall underneath the new KFH building next to Ahli Bank. The design is very similar to the branch in the Avenues which I’ve mentioned before I really liked. I guess this is their new look which is pretty cool.

Electrozan recently relocated to a new larger location a few buildings away from their original spot. I never passed by the old place since to be honest I hated the name and their logo and for me sometimes thats all I need to stay away from a place. Tonight though I passed by the new store and although I still hate the name and logo, I kinda liked the place.

They don’t have anything special electronics wise and the place isn’t really that big but what I liked about the place was the warehouse look. It reminded me a lot of Costco in the States except without the special offer on the 100-roll pack of toilet paper. According to a banner Electrozan had in the store, they didn’t spend money on the interior design because they wanted to pass on the savings to the consumers. Well I think more stores should follow in their steps since most places can’t get the design right anyway so they might as well just not bother trying and just do it like this, it looks wayy better than a lot of crap out there. Two more pictures after the jump.

A full list of local online stores. I will keep updating this post in the future whenever I find something new.

All in One
7arai
Kuwait Mall

Books
Ketaaby
Q8 Book Shop

Cars, Bikes and Boats
GCC Motors
Gulf Ride
Kuwait Cars
Q8 Boom
Q8 Car
Q8 HP
Q8 Showroom
Q8 RPM
Sell 11
Seyayer

Computers & Electronics
Click N’ Buy
Q8 Cost

Dessert
Dessert Kuwait
Choco Bite
Choowy Goowy
Little Treats
Pop Up

Fashion
3arabana
7ata 7eet
CASHART
Catalog Express
Catalog Plus
H&H Fashion
Fashion Addicts
La Merletto
Nafnofy
Nizaka
Oleana Boutique
Pink Moon Boutique
Powder Talk
Pret-A-Souk
Q8 Fasion
Raveena
She Style
Verona

Flowers
Q8 Flowers
Ward Q8

Food
6alabat
I Eat Online

Supermarket
Dekkany
Food Kuwait
Taw9eel

Thanks Half.Dead

My favorite laptop sleeve is made by WaterField Designs. It’s the most important accessory for my laptop and I’ve had mine since 2001. Back then I had an Apple iBook and I ordered the sleeve with a Vertigo bag from WaterField and I still use them today. Best of all both the sleeve and bag still look brand new, like I had purchased them yesterday. Thats because they are so well made, all of WaterField’s stuff is hand made in San Francisco. I just ordered another sleeve for Nat’s new laptop and thought I should post about how good their products are. [Link]

I passed by the Panasonic dealer in Salmiya (Easa Husain Al-Yousifi & Sons Co.) and noticed they are selling the Pleo Dinosaur. They’re selling it for KD129 which is around KD50 more expensive than Amazon. If you don’t know what the Pleo Dinosaur is its basically a robot dinosaur that can see, feel and grow (mentally). Its extremely cute and intelligent, if I didn’t think my dog Geo would eat it I would have already gotten one. You can check it out in action on the Pleo website, just click on discover once you get there. [Link]

I am planning to lift my Wrangler and install larger 33″ tires on it. Late last month I got the tires which I expected would be the hardest thing to get until recently I realized getting new black steel wheels are even harder. I wanted either American Racing or Cragar black steel wheels. I found an American Racing dealer in Kuwait but they didn’t have anything I was interested in and if I wanted to place an order for wheels they would only be delivered in August or September. So I decided to check and see what I could find in Dubai, I gave Icon Auto a call and they didn’t have what I wanted either. The only option I had left was to order the wheels from the US and ship them to Kuwait but 5 steel tires would weigh a ton.

Each wheel weighs 12KG and five wheels would mean a total weight of 60KG. Shipping them with Aramex or USWS would cost me around KD200 which is a ridiculous amount to pay specially when my five wheels combined would cost me only KD50. Surprisingly though it turns out its a lot cheaper to have the stuff shipped directly from the supplier in the US to Kuwait. I just ended up ordering five Cragar 342’s (pictured above on the Wrangler) for $215 from Quadratec and shipping them to Kuwait will cost me only $353 with Fed Ex. Thats not really bad at all and I am extremely surprised. Once my wheels get here the third and final thing I need to do is order the lift kit.

Update: Added more pictures of the same rims on other Wranglers which you can check out by clicking on continue.

Today I passed by Abyat to get a sneak peek. They officially open on the 18th but I’ve got a friend who works there and he told me I could pass by any time to check it out. Although the store isn’t 100% complete yet I did leave feeling very impressed. Compared to Alghanim’s Platform, Abyat is exactly 3 times as big and so have a lot more items. I will be going back there for sure once they launch since I found a couple of items I needed. I took a bunch of shots which you can check out below by clicking on continue.

I found this lamp at Sultan Center and its called LivingColors by Philips. The lamp can project light in over 16 million different colors in which you can control by a color wheel on a remote control. It looks really cool but I am still trying to figure out if its worth KD64. You can try it out at Sultan Center, they have a live one on display for you to play with. More information available on the Philips website. [Link]

Here is also a YouTube video of the light in action. [YouTube]

Last month I posted about an offer that Sandisk had where the prices of the products turned out to be cheaper than Amazon. Well they just launched another campaign now with even cheaper prices than before. Check out the latest flyer [Here]

I needed to get a Polaroid camera today so I called all the Ashraf stores in Kuwait who are the Polaroid dealers and non of them had any cameras in stock except for the one in Salmiya who had two. I ended up passing by them and picking it up for KD20. On Amazon the same camera is being sold for KD43.500 so they are basically selling it in Kuwait for less than half the price. If you are interested they have one more in stock, their number is 5731372.

After reading the replies to my edamame post I managed to find edamame at Sultan Center. They were located in the frozen vegetables section and the packet has Japanese writing all over it and costs KD1.695 for a 400g bag. Hopefully I will figure out how long to boil them, the instructions on the back are all in Japanese!

I need to get me one of those. [Link]

Now that I finished with the audio install in my Wrangler the next thing I am going to do is get a lift so I could install 33″ tires. After scouring the Jeep Forum and doing a lot of research I decided to go with the DPG Ultimate Trailgunner Suspension System which is a kit put together by DPG for Jeep Wranglers and consists of a 2.5″ Old Man Emu suspension system combined with DPG springs, a 1.25″ JKS body lift and a bunch of other parts which I need for the Wrangler install like adjustable track bars, quick disconnects and bump stops, etc.. basically all the parts I need to get 33″ tires installed on my Wrangler. You can check it out [Here]

Now as usual I always try to purchase stuff from Kuwait first but also as usual I get put off by the prices. I found the Old Man Emu dealer in Kuwait which is Naser Al-Sayer (Tel: 4747137) but their prices were more than double that of the US. Even with shipping it would be a lot cheaper and more reliable to order the parts from a specialized place like DPG in the States.

So now that I solved my suspension lift issue I have another problem with the tires and wheels. My current setup is 31″ tires with 15×7 wheels, for my 33″ setup I need to get 15×8 wheels and 33×12.5xR15 tires. I found some really nice American Racing wheels (black steelies) for KD16 per wheel but they will cost me an arm and a leg to ship to Kuwait. So I decided to pass by the American Racing dealer in Kuwait who are Silicon Valley Group (Tel: 4826723) to see how much the wheel cost here. The visit was pretty disappointing, they barely had anything in stock, they had nothing that fits the Wrangler and the employee there really had no clue about anything. They are even the local dealers for Mickey Thompson tires yet they only had one model from the size I wanted 33×12.5xR15 and even worse they only had one tire in stock. The guy told me I could place an order for anything I wanted but that it would get here by August/September. Very disappointing.

For tires I wanted BF Goodrich AT/KO but I couldn’t find a local dealer so I started calling other places to see what they had and this is what I found:

Goodyear Wrangler MT/R
33×12.5R15
KD80 per tire (slow shipping, 2 months to arrive)
KD110-120 per tire (fast shipping, 2 weeks to arrive)
Tel: 884737

Mickey Thompson Desert King
33×10.5R15
KD90 (1 tire in stock)
Tel: 4826723

Maxxis MT762 Bighorn
33×12.5R15
KD42
Tel: 4824256

Hankook Dynapro MT RT03
33×12.5R15
KD37 (6 tires in stock)
Tel: 884737

I also tried Dunlop, Toyo and Yokohama but they didn’t have any in stock or in Toyo’s case no one ever answered the phone. I am extremely disappointed with the state of some of the dealerships in Kuwait. Prices are expensive, they don’t have a large stock and ordering stuff with them takes ages. Gives me less and less reason to buy stuff from Kuwait.

Update: A friend gave me a link to a website of shop in Dubai called Icon Auto who sell and install lifts for the Wrangler. Their price is very competitive compared to the US. For example a 2.5″ suspension lift costs $659 in the States, $800 in Dubai and $1100 in Kuwait. How come we don’t have a place like Icon Auto in Kuwait?? [Link]

A friend just passed me this flyer and I can’t believe some of the prices on these products. For example the 8GB Cruzer costs KD14 in Kuwait while on Amazon its selling for KD17.5 [Flyer Scan]