Category: Information

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.

Someone sent me a PDF document by Areva, a nuclear power generation solution provider, and inside the PDF it says that Kuwait has an order for one nuclear power plant. I guess this is how Kuwait will be solving its power shortages. Here is the PDF [Link]

Thanks Tim

I just read on another blog that the Borders bookstore is opening up at The Avenues. I hope this information is true. By the way is there anything that isn’t opening up at The Avenues? I don’t read a lot of books but I do read a lot of magazines and I find the lack of selection in Kuwait disappointing. I mean you have more magazines about surfing than you do on motorbikes, who’s the genius behind that? [Link]

There will be a charity carnival tomorrow (Thursday, March 6th) titled “Finding Neverland” and it will be held at AlShaab Theme Park. All the profits from the event will go to Kuwaiti people in need. Check out the flyer for more details. [Flyer]

What do they have in common? Well yesterday I was sitting with the creative director of FutureBrand who designed the Zain identity and it turns he also designed the Bvlgari logo. Now that’s pretty cool.

Update: FutureBrand are one of the leading branding agencies in the world, I think they are in the top 3 or top 5.

According to one blog reader, it seems Alshaya are not the ones who will be relaunching Arby’s and Wendy’s but they are planning on launching Red Lobster in the phase 2 of Avenues. Not as cool as Arby’s or Wendy’s but still cool.

I passed by Abyat Megastore awhile ago and it hasn’t opened. Although the soft launch is today no one is allowed into the store. You need to be invited and accompanied by an Abyat employee to be let into the place. So if you are planning on checking out Abyat for the moment it’s not possible, you need to wait for the full launch of the store.

Abyat the super large home improvement store is supposedly soft launching tomorrow. I hope thats true because its supposed to be wayyy bigger and better than Platform which really sucked. I was going to pass by the BOSCH dealer tomorrow to pick up a Dremel but I guess I will pass by Abyat first just to see what they have.

Thanks Big Pearls

Update: Fixed the Abyat website link. [Link]

Update2: Just got back from Abyat, the security guard wouldn’t let me into the parking lot and when I asked him if they had opened he told me no. BUT, I just got an email from their customer relations telling me the soft launch IS today so I don’t know, they seem to have some miscommunication…

Every now and then a local company revamps their identity and the end result turns out to be great but that doesn’t happen too often. Most of the time the new identity turns out to be crap and it pisses me off. Salhia released a new identity last month and I have to say, I love it! Ever since I saw it I’ve been compelled to write about it but only just now did I manage to find the website with the new logo. When I first saw the logo I didn’t think it matched the atmosphere of the “Salhia Complex” but after reading their press release I realized the new logo replaces the Salhia Real Estate Company logo not the Salhia Complex logo. That makes a lot more sense since Salhia Complex is a lot warmer in reality while the new logo is colder and more corporate. Anyone know the agency behind this rebranding? [Link]

The collection is made up of 3 million records and 300,000 CDs containing more than 6 million song titles. Currently the collection is up for sale on eBay for US $3,000,000.00! [Link]

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Someone had told me before that the Chili’s in Kuwait was the largest in the world and a lot of people told me that wasn’t true. Well I emailed Chili’s last week asking them if the Kuwait branch was the largest and this is what they replied back:

Dear Mark:

Thank you for your email and interest in Chili’s.
Our Kuwait location is our largest Chili’s restaurant.
Again, thank you for your email.

Sincerely,
Pharisa Smith-King
Guest Relations

I guess that settles it!

A large chunk of the old Salmiya souk is going to get demolished soon, its now official since signs are now located all over the building saying this. For the people who said that the building is going to be refurbished and expanded, thats not true, the whole building is going down. I wonder how much traffic will decrease after the building which houses a large chunk of the shops in the souk gets brought down.

Check out the video. [YouTube]

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The biggest surprise is at spot number two which is Chili’s Awesome Blossom. One of my favorite starters but I had no idea it had over 2,700 calories! [Link]

Note: The pasta dish at number four looks pretty good and luckily for us Macaroni Grill just recently opened at the Avenues.

Note2: I think I just discovered how Kuwait is the 8th fattest country in the world. 3 out of the 20 most fattening dishes are available at Chili’s and Kuwait has the largest Chili’s in the world. Everything makes sense now!

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This sounds pretty cool, looks like Cartoon Network is opening a theme park in Kuwait.

Cartoon Network Enterprises has entered into an agreement with Future Kid & Real Estate Co. to develop a fully branded Cartoon Network theme park in Kuwait City. The 3,500 square meter venue is scheduled to open at the end of 2008.

“This is a timely and exciting deal which puts Turner at the heart of a thriving entertainment industry in the Middle East,” says Jeff Kupsky, president of Turner Broadcasting System Europe, owner of

Cartoon Network. “The Kuwait City indoor theme park will enable visitors to sample the Cartoon Network experience on a grand scale, and truly interact with our characters and brands.”

[Source]

Thanks MFS!