Category: Shopping

Good Game the tabletop gaming store opened back in 2013 and quickly became a popular place to hang out and play board games. Because of the popularity, they’ve been looking for a new place to move to for a few years now and they just found one (not sure if I’m allowed to say where they’re moving to).

Because of the move, they’re holding their largest sale ever with discounts ranging from 25% to 75% that will last until they move next month. The discounts are only in-store not online so if you want to pick up some board games for a good deal and say goodbye to their store one last time, you should do so now. @goodgamekw

The English Bookshop is a new website by Aafaq Bookstore and is for all their English titles. They just launched so the website right now mostly contains children’s books but they’re adding around 60-80 new titles every day. The website looks nice, is easy to navigate, and also search for titles. Customers who place an order before 11AM get the books the same day while orders that come in after 11AM get delivered the next day. So if you want to browse or buy English books check out theenglishbookshop.com.kw

Lululemon, the popular yoga wear brand opened up at The Avenues yesterday. The store is on the main strip of Phase 4, right next door to the clothing brand Monki.

I haven’t played pool since university and not interested in playing it either but, someone on Reddit was looking for good quality cue sticks and a person recommended Dr Cue. So this post is for google in case someone else in the future is looking for billiard equipment in Kuwait. Dr Cue have cue sticks, cue cases, tables, balls, and various accessories. They can also perform maintenance on your equipment as well as customize your sticks with engravings or leather wrapping. I don’t think everything is listed on their website so I’d get in touch with them directly in case you’re looking for anything specific not listed there.

If you’re interested, their Instagram account is @drcue.billiard, their phone number is 99000303 and their website is dr-cue.com

Thanks Tengokuq

I’ve been visiting the old Sultan Center in Salmiya since I was a kid in the 80s, I even spent my after-prom with friends at the Jeans Grill Restaurant that used to be open 24 hours a day upstairs. They used to have a Sega Genesis demo unit connected to a TV upstairs in the 90s, so when I ditched school I’d head to Sultan Center to play videogames (dumbest idea since that’s where my mum did her grocery shopping). Back before there were malls in Kuwait, Sultan Center used to be a go-to place on weekends which sounds bizarre now, but if you think there isn’t anything to do in Kuwait today, you should have been here back when there really wasn’t anything to do.

Over the years I’ve heard multiple of times that they were planning on closing down the location. I think the rumors started when they opened the Shaab branch (which later closed down) and then the rumors got stronger after they opened in Boulevard. But that doesn’t look like it’s happening anymore since they just completed a major facelift and renovation to the store.

Because of all the nostalgic memories I have with the place you’d think I’d be upset about such a major facelift but honestly, the place now looks so much better. It’s probably the nicest looking supermarket in Kuwait reminding me of places like Waitrose in Dubai. They also now have Xcite and Intersports branches upstairs now which is another positive. The only issue I really have with the refurbishment is the check-out area seems smaller than it was before, but other than that I really like the new look. They even uplifted the exterior dropping the light beige color for dark grey. Not a bad job at all really, I’m impressed.

Claudia Al Rashoud has been a photojournalist in Kuwait since 1979. She was the first professional female photojournalist at the Arab Times newspaper and has written a number of books on Kuwait’s history and heritage with beautiful pictures. She recently launched an Instagram account @claudia_alrashoud where she has been sharing stories from her long journalistic career and also launched a small website where people can purchase her books on Kuwait.

All sales from the website will pay for veterinary care for stray, abandoned, and abused animals from Touch of Hope Kuwait, so not only will you be getting some great books on Kuwait, but you’ll also be helping animals. So checkout her website.

Misfits is a local online store that sells vinyl records as well as record players and music-related merchandise. They currently have around 50 different records for sale but also a whole bunch of other things including record and cassette players, t-shirts and sweatshirts, and accessories like vinyl cleaning kits and vinyl storage.

If you’re looking for records or merchandise, check out their website misfitskw.com

The official iPhone 12 prices got published today and you can check them all out below:

iPhone 12 Mini
64GB – 256.900 KD
128GB – 274.900 KD
256GB – 310.900 KD

iPhone 12
64GB – 289.900 KD
128GB – 309.900 KD
256GB – 345.900 KD

iPhone 12 Pro
128GB – 359.900 KD
256GB – 395.900 KD
512GB – 469.900 KD

iPhone 12 Pro Max
128GB – 404.900 KD
256GB – 439.900 KD
512GB – 510.900 KD

How do the prices compare to US and UK iPhones? If we take the iPhone 12 Pro 256GB as an example then Kuwait is slightly more expensive than the US price but a lot cheaper than UK prices:

iPhone 12 Pro 256GB
Kuwait – 396 KD
United States – 377 KD (including US tax and shipping to Kuwait)
United Kingdom – 451 KD (including shipping to Kuwait)

Back in September I posted about the Kärcher OC 3 portable pressure washer and how great it was. I had purchased it for KD43 from Ace but later found out it was actually mispriced and should have been sold for KD68 (which is too expensive).

But now Xcite is selling the same pressure washer for just KD33. That’s even cheaper than how much I paid!

So if you were interested in the washer but couldn’t find one or thought it was too expensive before, here is the link on Xcite.

Hamleys, the UK toy store has finally opened up in Kuwait at The Gate Mall. I say finally because they were originally meant to open back in 2012 but for some reason never did. It’s also kinda odd that they opened their first store in The Gate Mall, might have to head there this weekend and see if anything else interesting is open there. Check out Hamleys on Instagram @hamleyskuwait

The American sportswear company Under Armour opened up in Avenues Phase I last month. I actually came by the store by accident while walking around Avenues to see if there was anything new. I didn’t expect to see Under Armour there especially since all the other big brand sports stores are located on the opposite end of the mall in Phase 4. The store is pretty large, they have sneakers, sportswear, a separate Project Rock section (a collection by “The Rock”) as well as a small accessories section where I spotted some cool workout gloves which I think I’m gonna end up getting.

If you want to find the store they’re on the top floor of Avenues Phase I, near Borders.

Update: Turns out they’ve been open in Al Kout since last year.

As the title says, Amazon.ae now ships to Kuwait. I’ve never really used Amazon.ae so not sure how well stocked the UAE based site is but I just checked the price of a Nintendo Switch Lite and with shipping and customs the price came out to KD69 which is around 5KD cheaper than the cheapest price I’ve seen in Kuwait.

Nintendo Switch Lite: AED 769.29
Shipping & handling: AED 25.26
Import Fees Deposit: AED 41.97
Order total: AED 836.52

Amazon tend to overcharge with the import fees deposit and then refund you the difference at a later time so the price is going to be slightly less than KD69 actually. Not everything ships to Kuwait but this could be a new website to check anytime you’re looking to order something and can’t find it locally.

Yamama is a new Asian supermarket that recently opened up and I dropped by yesterday to check it out. Although it lacks a variety of products, it was a pretty nice space and well organized. They don’t really have a lot of products but because it’s so close to two other Asian Supermarkets, Singarea and Ginza, you could essentially hop from one to another in one visit.

If you’re interested in checking it out, here is their location on Google Maps.

Over the weekend I noticed Lakeland at 360 Mall were selling Breville and Sage coffee machines. Breville and Sage are the same company they’re just called different things in the US and the UK. The prices though are both expensive and a good deal, depending on what you want. I’ve posted before about ordering electronics from Amazon UK and here is how much the coffee machines would cost if you had Amazon UK ship them directly to you vs Lakeland:

The Oracle
Lakeland: KD1,034
Amazon UK: KD672

Barista Touch +
Lakeland: KD445
Amazon UK: KD489

Bambino Plus
Lakeland: KD232
Amazon UK: KD170

The Amazon prices include shipping to Kuwait and the customs fees. So really unless you want the Barista Touch it’s a better deal to just order the coffee machines directly from the UK.

Lululemon the popular athletic apparel retailer brand is opening up at The Avenues. Lululemon is popular mostly because of their yoga wear and I know a lot of people (well mostly girls) who are going to be excited about this since they no longer have to order their clothes online or wait for a Dubai trip. The store is opening up in Phase 4 of The Avenues right next door to the clothing brand Monki.