Category: Shopping

Last month I posted about Bolt electric scooters being sold in Kuwait but over the weekend I found out that there’s a better quality scooter available for sale, the Ninebot Kickscooter by Segway. The Future store in Avenues Phase II has the entry-level Segway ES1 for sale but are asking KD280 for it which is too much. The same scooter is being sold for around 135KD on Amazon and even with shipping and customs, it would probably won’t be more than KD180. But, I guess if you want to buy a scooter like right now this second and can’t wait, this Segway is probably the best scooter brand you can get in Kuwait.

I’m always looking for ways to speed things up and one way I used to speed my payment process with Carriage and other local online businesses was by saving my ATM card number in my password manager app. Whenever I’d get to the payment page I’d open the app and then copy paste my debit card digits into the knet form. It was much faster than having to pull out my card from my wallet and manually entering the numbers.

But, a couple of months back, Knet disabled the option of pasting numbers into the form for some reason which was annoying because it meant I’d have to go back to the old way of entering my number manually. Since I order from Carriage daily this became annoying and so I started using my credit card instead since Carriage had the option of saving that.

Then late last month, Knet introduced a new feature called KFAST which allows us, the customers, to save our card details with merchants like Carriage so that all we need to do is enter our pin code to complete the purchase instead of all our numbers. There isn’t much info about this on their website or instagram account other than the description but the way it works is pretty simple. When you now check out from Carriage with Knet you’ll now be presented with two options on the Knet payment page, Kfast and Knet. If it’s your first time using the new form you’ll only be able to select Knet. After completing your check out process your card number gets saved and the next time you check out it will remember the card number and you’ll get to either use KFAST and just type your pincode, or you can click on Knet and type a new card in manually.

According to the Knet documentation on their website, you’re actually meant to get and enter a one time code to use KFAST but I didn’t get that. In any case, this is a great new feature and will make the check out process on a bunch of websites a lot quicker.

Electric scooters are like a big thing now in the States and Europe but haven’t really caught on in Kuwait, probably because we don’t have any sidewalks to use it on. At one point I was considering getting a scooter when I started my new job since the multistory parking lot was a bit far from my office. I figured I could just park the car down the street and then zip down to the office on the scooter. But back then I was planning to order a scooter online since I wasn’t aware of any being sold locally.

But now there is a company in Kuwait called BOLT selling the Chinese HX1000 X7 scooters rebranded as BOLT. They have two models, one with an 8.5″ wheel the other with a 10″. The range is 25KM and it weighs 12.5KG. They’re selling the 8.5″ wheel version for KD220 while the 10″ one for KD250 and you can purchase them from their online shop. I saw some guys use it at the race track yesterday to go up and down the pit lane with since it’s usually a long walk and it looked like a lot of fun.

If you want to check them out on Instagram their handle is @bolt_electric. Also if you know of any other place selling proper adult scooters, let me know in the comments.

I’ve been meaning to order tires for my Lotus online for some time now since the local Michelin dealer didn’t carry tire sizes that fit my car. But I had heard two things:

1) The Michelin dealer wouldn’t order tires for you if they didn’t carry them
2) If you order tires online they’ll get stuck in customs and it would be very difficult to clear them

I didn’t follow up on the rumors right away since my tires were still in fairly good condition back then. But the new season at Kuwait Motor Town started already and now after 8 track days and 17,000KM mileage on the same set of tires, I knew it would be time to change them soon so I needed to find a solution.

This post is to clear the two rumors above which turned out to be false.

The Michelin Dealer
First thing I did was pass by the Michelin dealer on Canada Dry street to see if they would be willing to order the following tires for me:

Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 – 215/45 R17 x2
Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 – 285/30 R18 x2

They told me they could and I had two options, either ship them by sea freight which could take anywhere between 4 to 8 weeks, or by air which would take up to 2 weeks. They took my email and sent me a proposal that came to the following:

Total for 4 tires if shipped by air: KD540
Total for 4 tires if shipped by sea: KD374

Ordering Tires Online
I decided to check and see how much my tires would cost if I ordered them online myself and shipped them straight to Kuwait. I found my tires on Camskill.co.uk for a great price and they would be willing to ship them directly to Kuwait using FedEx. The total with shipping came out to just KD336 so I placed an order and within 5 days I had the tires. They cleared customs with no issue except for the fact I had to pay FedEx KD28 for the customs fees and clearance cost. The total in the end came out to KD364. So KD10 cheaper than the dealers sea freight cost but arrived in just a few days instead of a few weeks.

So if you need specific tires that aren’t available locally I would head to the local dealer first and see if they would order them for you or alternatively, you could order them online if you were in a hurry like me or just didn’t want to bother with Shuwaikh.

A few years ago I posted about a vintage radio shop called “Moqtanayaty”. When I first wrote about them they were located in Kuwait City but since then they’ve moved their shop three times, first to blockat, then to Hawalli, and now they’re back in the city again but this time across the street from Mubarakiya in a building called Burj Al Hamam Tower.

The place sells old vintage radios, boomboxes, record players and even some cameras. Everything they sell works and if you have an old radio that needs repairing they even have a repair guy. If you’re interested in checking the place out, here is their location on [Google Maps] and you can find them on instagram @vintage_radio_

Also, here is the link to my previous post.

Not sure if you guys are aware but you can actually use your Knet debit card to purchase stuff from Amazon.com (and other U.S. websites). Your Knet card is actually a Visa debit card and you can plug it into credit card payment forms and it will go through just like a regular credit card except the amount gets deducted right away from your bank account.

The goto hardware store for most people is either Ace or Bin Nisf in Shuwaikh but Jawad AlSaffar (JAS) recently opened a new location and I think it will give them both a run for their money.

The new JAS store has been open for a few months now but I only found out about this new and huge location last week. The new store is located across from the original True Value in Shuwaikh and is composed of two floors. The ground floor has garden stuff, shelves, paint and a large section containing generators, large air compressors and some heavy equipment like mixers, water pumps, ground compactors, and a bunch of other stuff I have no idea what they’re used for.

Once you move down to the basement things get more impressive. Firstly the basement is gigantic but it’s also really well organized. You have the usual areas like the power tools section, hardware tools, paint tools, protective gear, etc.. but in between all these main sections you have very specific areas like the caster wheels section, a section for nails and bolts, a welding area, a ropes section, a car garage equipment section, etc.. just very specific stuff.

The place is much larger than Bin Nisf and also larger than Ace, but I did notice that they didn’t carry any premium brand of hardware tools and some sections like their work lights area seemed lacking compared to Bin Nisf and even Ace Hardware.

If you like hardware stores then you really need to pass by and check out the new Jawad AlSaffar store. They’re open daily from 6:30AM to 10PM except for Fridays when they’re open from 6:30AM till 11:30AM. Here is their location on Google Maps.

Last month I posted about how I was going to be switching to MyUS from Posta Plus’s MyBox service because based on the MyUS online rate calculator, I would be saving a ton of money.

Spoiler: That didn’t happen.

In fact not only did I not save any money by switching (I ended up paying a lot more), but the whole experience has caused me a lot of frustration. Not even sure where to begin because I’ve basically had issues and unexplained costs with 4 out the 5 packages I’ve shipped with them. Firstly for those of you who don’t know what MyUS or MyBox is, they’re both US mail forwarding companies. This means they provide you with a US mailbox and you can ship stuff to it and they’ll then ship the items to you here in Kuwait.

Since the start of the month, I’ve used MyUS five times. The service has been pretty quick, the package would arrive to the MyUS facilities in the States and then within a day it’s shipped to me in Kuwait. The problem is with all the hidden costs, the inaccurate “Shipping Rate Calculator” and how all my packages were being repackaged into heavier boxes to increase their shipping weight.

According to MyUS, when a package first arrives they weigh it and list the weight in your account. Then before shipping, they re-weigh the package and then charge you for that weight. This is where the problem occurs.

Weight According to UPS: 1.1 lbs.
Weight According to MyUS on Arrival: 1.3 lbs.
Weight According to MyUS on Departure: 2.5 lbs.

I confronted MyUS about this. How did my 1.1 lbs. package go from weighing 1.1 to 2.5. They denied any wrongdoing and sent me a photo of the shipping label from UPS which states it weighs 2 lbs (pic below).

I was like ok great so will you be refunding me the 0.5 lbs. difference I was charged? They responded with the following:

Thank you for contacting us. It is not an error. If you see the photos the indicated weight of your package with UPS Tracking #: 1ZE617090393761544 is 2 lbs when we received it from your merchant. And all packages arrives in our facility undergo re-weigh. So the final weight for this package with AWB# 100044466726 is 2.50 lb.

That email actually contradicts them because inside my account it shows that when they received it from the merchant the package weighed 1.3 lbs. (screenshot below). But in any case, how did a re-weigh increase the package weight? And where did the 1.3 lbs weight come from? Nobody knows…

But that actually summarizes my experience with MyUS. They’re definitely more expensive than MyBox for sure but that’s only half the problem. Their biggest issue is that nothing is ever clear. I had one package that had an unexplained charge of $18.5, when I asked them about it turned out because inside my package was a small bottle of cleaning fluid and that’s considered hazardous and requires special handling. Ok fine at least let me know ahead of time or at least after charging me that amount let me know what it’s for. Why do I have to email and ask about it?

My MacBook Air was shipped with the option “FedEx Economy” instead of “Budget Economy” which is the preference I have in my mailbox settings. When I asked them why they told me any item with a battery can’t be shipped with “Budget Economy”. That would be understandable except the option “Budget Economy” actually uses “FedEx Economy” as the carrier to ship. They’re over-complicated and have a lot of holes in their system.

Overall they just felt sleazy and I really don’t like that. I asked people on Reddit if they faced similar issues and turns out I wasn’t the only.

On a positive note, they seem to be good to use on very heavy packages. The only issue I didn’t have with them was with 1 package and that package weighed 18.48 lbs. It cost me around KD28 to ship with them which was that only time their online shipping calculator had quoted me accurately. That same package would have cost me at least KD35 with PostaPlus.

So would I recommend MyUS? For regular shipments no I would not. I faced an issue with every single package except for one and four out of my five packages would have cost me less to ship with MyBox. The only time I’d recommend MyUS is if you have a really heavy shipment but other than that I’m personally heading back to MyBox for my day to day purchases and I’m going to continue to recommend them.

Update: Just got a shipment from MyUS today and it’s a total disaster. Firstly they charged me $18.50 extra for the shipment because they said my shipment contained flammable liquid, turns out the liquid isn’t flammable. Then they ripped open one of the packages inside and completely damaged one of the sleeves from a vinyl record. They’re a mess!

Virgin Megastore which originally opened up in Marina Mall back in 2002 and then closed down in 2012 is now reopening again, but this time at The Avenues. Their new location is where the clothing store Express used to be located in Phase 1 and should (theoretically at least) prove to be a better location for them this time around.

Very few people know this but back in 2006 Virgin Kuwait bullied me and threatened to sue me over one of my posts. It’s a long story and made me dislike the brand and the company Azadea (who own the brand in the Middle East) for a very long time, but, I’m pretty glad they’re opening again since their Dubai store actually sells interesting things albeit overpriced.

No idea on when the opening will be.

Vinyl Destination is a curated destination for vinyl lovers in Kuwait that was created by Farah Bishara (DJ Bonita) simply because we didn’t have any record stores in Kuwait. Even though CDs are dead, vinyl is still pretty much alive and no store sells them. When Virgin Megastore closed down we kinda lost our last music store since all our favorite music shops from the 80s and 90s had closed down including:

Bells (got my first CD from there, Paula Abdul Spellbound 1991)
IVC
Soul II Soul
Subway
Swan Lake (got my first tape from there, Ghostbusters soundtrack 1984)
The Video Club
White House

Vinyl Destination started off as a pop-up event back in October and since then it popped up a couple of times before going into hibernation for the summer. But recently, Vinyl Destination launched an online store. There is a pretty decent selection for sale, not too many and mostly one of each vinyl, but not a bad start and they’re also priced pretty reasonably from 10 to 15KD.

So if you’re looking for vinyl this is your best bet unless you want to go rummage through random piles in the antique basement. www.vinyldestinationkuwait.com

I’ve used the US mail forwarding company MyUS on and off since 2001. Originally they were the only option available, then Shop&Ship by Aramex came about so started using them, and it’s been a back and forth relationship with them ever since. I usually jump ship whenever I find a better deal since I ship a lot of items and the savings do add up. For the past few years, I’ve been using the MyBox service from PostaPlus since they were the most affordable offering but then last week I remembered one reader had previously told me MyUS had reduced their prices and were now cheaper than PostaPlus.

A couple of weeks ago I had ordered and shipped a bunch of parts for my Datsun 240z to my PostaPlus account and the total package weighed around 40lb. When I had originally checked the rate calculator on PostaPlus it told me I would pay around KD75 which I figured was ok. After I shipped the items, I decided to check the rate calculator on the MyUS website and was surprised to get KD45. That’s a pretty huge difference which is why I’m now thinking of moving back to MyUS.

But I have a few questions for those of you who currently are using them:

– Other than the shipping cost, what are usually the custom clearance fees you pay, for example with PostaPlus it’s KD1 for custom clearance and then 5% of the total shipment value for customs.

– Can you pay the customs fees online or is it cash on delivery?

– Are there any issues you’ve had with MyUS?

On a side note (and coincidentally), MyUS recently published an article about the top influencers in Kuwait and yours truly made the list. You can check that post out here.

Update: I tried them out and they’re more expensive than MyBox. Click here for details.

If you want to get plants but don’t feel like going to the nurseries, the Mashatel app is a good alternative.

The Mashatel app allows you to buy plants and gardening gear from the nurseries in the same way Carriage allows you to buy food from restaurants. The app divides the plants into indoor and outdoor categories, you choose which you want and then browse through the available plants. When you click on one it will give you more details on the kind of plant it is, and how to maintain it. Pretty helpful if say you’re looking for something that doesn’t require a lot of watering for example.

Delivery prices vary depending on where you live but they start at KD2 and go up to KD10 if you want to deliver to Khiran. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices and you can download it from here.

Showroomz is a new app I found about that I actually installed and didn’t delete. The app is like a digital car showroom for local car dealers and is a really convenient way to find out how much different cars cost.

But there are two minor issues I have with the app. Firstly, not all the dealers are listed, for example, BMW, Mercedes and Toyota are not on the app although I’m assuming they will be added eventually. Secondly, the brands aren’t listed aren’t in alphabetical order, so if you’re looking for a specific brand you have to scroll down the list and hope to find it. Other than these two quibbles, its a nice looking app that’s fairly straightforward to use without too many bells and whistles.

If you love cars or maybe if you’re looking to buy a new one then it’s worth downloading the app. Here is the link to the Apple Store.

Here is a small business that isn’t a coffee shop.. a skate shop. Gulf Coast Skate Shop is a local business that is trying to support skateboarders in Kuwait. They don’t have a physical store, just an Instagram account which is fine. The only thing annoying though is they don’t have prices listed, so when you find something you like, you need to DM them for a quote which is a hassle.

If you’re a skateboarder and need boards, trucks, grip tape, wheels, etc.. then check them out @gulfcoastskate

Starting today, City Center is now carrying Waitrose products inside their stores. At this moment the Waitrose products are only available at their Salmiya location, but they will soon be adding them in their Dasma and Shuwaikh stores soon.

Currently, only around 30-40% of their total shipment has arrived, with the rest of the Waitrose products expected to be in store in around a months time.

This isn’t the first time Waitrose products have been made available in Kuwait, around 5 years ago Sultan Center started carrying Waitrose products as well. The biggest difference this time around is that City Center have segregated the Waitrose products into their own section which makes it easier to find stuff.