Category: Gossip & Rumors

Decathlon, the giant French sporting good chain is coming to Kuwait and opening up in place of Virgin Megastore at Marina Mall.

Chili’s Too (the mini version of the Chili’s restaurant) is opening in Salhiya right behind Fauchon. They have another branch further down the street at Discovery Mall so I wonder if that one will close once this one opens up.

Thanks Patrick

Just heard that Virgin Megastore is going to be closing down by end of January. I’m not sure if they’re reopening somewhere else but their closure definitely isn’t a surprise. Their book collection is small, their music section is smaller and their movie section practically non existent. Still, it would be sad to see it go.

Thanks EEK! | Photo by Bashar

Update: Projekt Cyan just got me more information regarding the closure of Virgin. Firstly they won’t be relocating, they’re shutting down their Kuwait operation for good. Secondly, they’re also closing down the Moa, Pre Natal and Piazza Itala stores, all of which are located adjacent to Virgin. They’re instead going to group the 4 store spaces together and open up Decathlon which is a huge French sports equipment store.

There’s a comedy club opening soon in Kuwait (the first?) and it will be called “Live”. The comedy club will be located in the basement of Discovery Mall and will seat approximately 200 people. It was originally scheduled to open up before the end of the year but due to some delays the launch will now most likely be in January. They’ve already got a big name Arab American comedian booked for their launch so should be interesting to see. I’ll post more details once I get them.

Ubon, the Thai restaurant which I posted about awhile back looks like it’s opening soon. I saw them bring in the furniture 2 days back and the place seems pretty trendy looking. This will definitely turn into the coolest Thai restaurant in Kuwait.

Looks like Potbelly, Pinkberry and Starbucks inside the Duty Free at the Kuwait Airport isn’t opening anytime soon.

I remember Tommy being open in Marina Mall around 7 years back but they weren’t doing good (I heard) and they shut down. Now it looks like they’re reopening again but this time at 360 Mall. Their new location is right next to Signor Sassi in place of Yo Sushi! and also right next to Mango.

Interestingly the brand doesn’t seem to be owned by Alshaya anymore. When Tommy was previously open in Kuwait Alshaya had the brand but, I just checked out the Alshaya website and there is no sign of Tommy Hilfiger so it looks like it’s opening under new ownership.

I just heard that Shake Shack is opening a second branch in Avenues Phase III. I could understand with a brand like Pinkberry or Starbucks why you would need multiple outlets in the same mall but Shake Shack?

Fatburger is finally opening up their Burj Jassem branch in Kuwait City on the 25th of this month. Burj Jassem is located opposite the Ice Skating Rink.

I just read on twitter that Kuwait Customs are going on strike tomorrow. I really hope that’s not true, customs already take forever to clear packages and with a strike I’m sure things are going get delayed even longer.

Basil Alsalem (the owner of Slider Station) was at Hamra Tower tonight and snapped some shots of the mall from inside. It’s the first time I see shots of the mall from the inside with the lights on so I thought it was interesting to share. He snapped three shots which you could check out [Here]

So far here are the shops and restaurants I know of that are opening up in Hamra Tower:

Hermes
Le Sushi
Melenzane
Cavali Cafe
Gucci Cafe
Chocolate Bar
Elevation Burger
Panerai Boutique
Behbehani Watches
Harry Winston
Gelatissimo
Adidas
Adidas Originals
Reebok

The tower is scheduled to open in December of this year.

According to a reader SNOG is opening up this weekend at Souk Sharq. I’m not a fan of frozen yogurt but supposedly SNOG is good. I believe this will also be their first branch in Kuwait. This is their second branch, the first was in Muhallab.

Thanks Ahmed

I also noticed that Tche Tche is opening up in place of Nandos at The Avenues. Nandos was located outside in the area behind Chili’s but it closed down. Not sure if Tche Tche will manage to send traffic to that isolated area in the back but the weather is getting better now and there’s a pretty large outdoor seating area so they might be able to pull it off.

Prada and Miu Miu are finally coming back to Kuwait again and this time they’re opening up at 360 Mall. Both brands were previously located at Villa Moda but ended up closing down along with the other brands.

Note: I think the location of the Prada store will be in front of Bottega Veneta near Burberry. That location seems big enough and it would be located in a strip that’s currently occupied by Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent as well.

Update: Got some more information regarding this. Prada signed a regional partnership with UAE based Al-Tayer Group and they are the ones who are bringing Prada and Miu Miu to Kuwait. As I predicted the Prada branch is going to open opposite Bottega Veneta while Miu Miu is going to open next to Marni. My guess is they might be open by the end of the year or early 2012.

I was surprised to find out that Lita’s the small Mexican food joint in Mahboula had closed down. They literally served the best Mexican food in Kuwait but even their website was down so I figured something really weird/bad had happened. Turns out they closed down because they’re moving to a larger location on the Gulf Road and they should open in a few months time. But, I still think that’s weird. If it was me I wouldn’t have closed down the Mahboula branch since it was very popular with the expats over there so I’m wondering if there is another side to this story. On the bright side, if they do open up on the Gulf Road then that’s better for me since they’d be a lot closer to my home.

I was having lunch today at the Avenues and I noticed Victoria’s Secret is opening up next to Starbucks opposite Lorenzino near The One furniture store. It looks like it’s going to be much larger than the Marina Mall branch so I’m guessing they’re going to have a proper lingerie section which is why I find the location a bit weird.