Category: Shopping

Off Road Performance (ORP) is a 4×4 aftermarket parts specialist that’s located right here in Kuwait. They are my go-to place whenever I need to upgrade anything in my FJ Cruiser and I’ve been using them ever since I found out about them back in 2010. They carry a bunch of popular 4×4 brands like FOX, Warn, Teraflex, KC Hilites, Bushwacker, Fabtech, Mickey Thompson and a lot more.

A couple of weeks ago, ORP launched an online shop which I found out about over the weekend and I’m in love with it. I also hate it a bit since I’m now worried I’m going to be on the website all the time looking for items to buy.

The website is clean looking and easy to flip through but my favorite aspect of it is that once you choose one of the sections (pictured above), you can then choose your car from a dropdown menu and the website will only show you parts that are compatible with your car. This small feature makes flipping through all the items a lot more efficient.

I’m so glad they setup a full fledged online store instead of going with the easier route of just turning their instagram account into a shop which is what a lot businesses tend to do. So if you’ve got a 4×4 and are looking for parts for it, check out their website [orp.com.kw]

If you’re a PostaPlus MyBox user then here’s two pieces of good news:

1) They now have an iPhone app that will allow you to track your packages without having to log in every time to the app
2) You can now pay for your packages online (website and app)

The online payment is what I’m the most excited about since they’ve been promising it for a few years now. I hate carrying cash and if I’m not in the office when the delivery guy comes, it always meant someone else had to pay for the package on my behalf. Now at least I can get the payment sorted and just have the delivery guy drop off the package.

If you’re interested in downloading the app, here is the [Link]

Pick opened up in Al Hamra Tower last week and I personally think this is their best location yet due to the amount of people who work in the tower. Currently there seems to be a queue all day long during office working hours but I overheard they’re getting a second cashier to cope with the high demand.

A standalone Adidas Originals also opened up in the basement of Al Hamra. Previously Adidas Originals was part of the regular Adidas store in the basement, but that location got shut down and they opened up this new Adidas Originals shop next to the old one. The mall is finally turning into a much more interesting place, even WH Smith Bookshop is opening up in the basement.

I currently mostly use Aramex’s Shop & Ship service as well as Posta Plus’s MyBox when ordering items online from abroad. I tend to use Posta Plus for all my US and UK shopping and Shop & Ship for all the other countries. The reason I use Posta Plus for my US and UK shopping is because its cheaper than Shop & Ship and just as fast. How much cheaper? Generally not that much, but recently me and my brother ordered the exact same item, a Nintendo Switch case from Waterfield and decided to compare the difference in shipping cost. He shipped the case to his Shop & Ship mailbox while I shipped it to my Posta Plus mailbox. So how much did we each pay for the exact same item?

Aramex: KD 8.4
PostaPlus: KD 3.5

That’s a pretty huge difference, more than double actually. Aramex for some reason listed the weight of the shipment at 0.52KG which automatically means the package gets charged as if its 1KG since it exceeded 0.5KG, while PostaPlus on the other hand have the package listed at under 0.5KG (400g) since the actual weight of the case is just 0.21KG. Ouch.

A couple of years back I put together a list of local online shopping stores and ever since I’ve been quietly updating it. But now it got to the point where I also felt I needed to organize the list properly which is why I decided to create a new updated list.

Below are all the local online shopping websites I am aware of. If there are any missing let me know in the comments, the websites have to be based in Kuwait and allow you to purchase items directly from it.

Sultan Center have finally launched their online shop so you can order your groceries online and have them deliver it to your home. Their delivery charges aren’t that bad either:

The minimum order value is 10KD per order Charges: Delivery charges differs with respect to the type of delivery whether express or next day delivery. Express delivery: We charge 1.5 KD for the express delivery, if the order is 40KD or above the delivery will be free. Next day delivery: This delivery is Free of charge.

I live right next to like four Sultan Centers so I’ll always prefer to stop by my local branch but I’ll definitely start checking their website whenever there is an item I can’t find. Actually, maybe you guys can help, right now I’m having trouble finding Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Light which seems to be out of stock everywhere. It’s delicious hot chocolate and just 25 calories!

Anyway, their website is still in beta so there might be a few issues here and there but you can check it out right now by visiting [sultan-center.com]

Last year I posted about how Edfa3ly were the cheapest way to ship lightweight items from the States. Well that no longer is the case, seems they’ve made some major changes one of which being that they now charge KD2.5 per 1/2kg. In comparison, PostaPlus charge KD2.5 for the first 1/2kg but then charge KD2 for the extra 1/2kg’s which makes Edfa3ly now more expensive than PostaPlus. Thats not even including the Edfa3ly service fee of 1%. So I’ve updated my original post to highlight these new changes. It was good while it lasted.

Last month I posted a complaint about how my past few shipments with PostaPlus had taken twice as long to arrive than usual. While previously packages would take around a week to get delivered to Kuwait after arriving to my US mailbox, my past three shipments had taken 11, 13 and 21 days. But things are back to normal now since I received two packages since that post, one had taken 6 days from my US mailbox to my door, the other 7.

During that time I was in contact with PostaPlus who investigated the delays and they sent me the explanation below:

1. Weather conditions: Europe (Our transit HUB) has experienced bad weather conditions that had caused flights to be cancelled.
2. Change in customs management structure, if you recall there was a big situation going on and has caused some key people to be removed, henceforth situation was unstable and extra security has been added on shipments.

So everything is back to normal, now if they can only hurry up an implement Knet payments everything would be perfect.

None of the shipping companies are consistent so every few months I like to check and see which one of them is currently performing better.

I’ve been using MyBox exclusively for the past few months and they’ve been so slow that I might end up moving back to Shop & Ship if they’re doing better. Some examples of my recent shipments:

MacBook Pro (21 Days)
– Arrived to MyBox on December 14th
– Delivered to me in Kuwait on January 4th

Sneakers (11 Days)
– Arrived to MyBox on December 28th
– Delivered to me in Kuwait on January 8th

Laptop Case (13 Days)
– Arrived to MyBox on January 13th
– Delivered to me in Kuwait on January 26th

So what US mail forwarding company are you guys currently using and whats the average time it taking to get your items delivered to Kuwait from the US?

I don’t know what took so long but Sonicare electric toothbrushes are now finally available in Kuwait. I used to use Oral B toothbrushes previously but I read so many great things about Sonicare I eventually picked up the Sonicare Flexcare model 3 years ago and haven’t looked back since. Only issue I was having was that I was ordering replacement heads online which was adding to the already expensive cost of the heads, now I can get them locally. If you’re interested they’re available at Xcite.

Page Turner is a local online based store that specializes in selling must reads books and bestsellers. Their collection isn’t huge by any means with their “Fiction” section being the largest, but you could look at it as quality over quantity. They also buy used books although I have no idea where they’re listed on their website. In any case if you’re looking to buy real books and don’t have a Kindle, this could be a good source. Check them out [Here]

I used to post a gift guide on the blog back in the olden days (jeez wtf) so I decided to bring the list back this year again. If you still haven’t purchased a Christmas gift then the list below might help you with some ideas. Everything listed below is available in Kuwait, the links will take you to the place that sells the item. I might add more to the list as I think of stuff but for now these are my recommendations:

Over KD75
B&O BeoPlay A2 Speaker KD120
B&O BeoPlay H5 Earphones KD85
Micro 3D Printer KD169
Pure Fix Brewster Bicycle KD100
Typographic Light Box KD140

Under KD75
B&O BeoPlay H3 Earphones KD50
Crafted Gift Box KD60
Nintendo Classic Mini KD60

Under KD50
AeroPress Coffee Maker KD17
Alive Yoga (1 Month Membership) KD39
Apple TV (4th Gen) KD47
Breville Smart Kettle KD25
Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker KD32.350
Fujifilm Instax Mini8 Instant Film Camera KD25
Nespresso Inissia Espresso Machine KD45

Under KD15
Black Classic Logbook KD8
Brother Personal Label Machine KD9.900
Casio – Retro Gold Watch KD13
Casio – Retro Steel Watch KD8
Eneloop Charger with 4xAA Batteries KD12.950
Klean Kanteen Stainless Bottle KD10
Mossery Dye Notebook KD3
Striped Shopping Bag KD9.750

I tend not to post about instagram businesses mostly because the majority are not that interesting but, @brushed965 is one I think is actually pretty cool. For a price, Brushed 965 will customize your personal items like wallets, purses and sneakers by painting them. Its a great way of customizing a popular item like a Chanel or LV purse. Based on what I’ve seen on their instagram account, their work ranges from simple monograms to detailed illustrated designs like the one above.

If you’re interested to check out their work or to commission a job, check their instagram account is @brushed965

“My Belongings” or “Moqtanayaty” (مقتنياتي) in Arabic is a small store in Kuwait City that sells vintage radios, boomboxes, record players and even cameras. Unlike most places that sell vintage items, all the vintage music players in this store are in working condition. They actually repair vintage music players, VCRs, and even old TVs. So say you have an old radio that stopped working, you could take it to them and they’ll try and fix it for you.

They have a lot of random items around the store as well from 8mm film and 8-track tapes to old telephones and clocks. The store is open from 9AM to 1PM and 4:30PM to 9PM. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and their instagram account is @vintage_radio_

Update: The place has moved, click here!

I was only made aware of this recently by a friend. We were talking about coffee machines and he suggested I order one from Amazon UK and have them ship it directly to Kuwait without using a forwarding mailbox (Amazon ships some items abroad). I told him shipping would be too expensive and wouldn’t be worth it. He then told me that when you ship stuff directly to Kuwait with Amazon UK, they remove the 20% VAT during check out. So I added a few items to my cart and tried to check out and he was right.

Once Amazon removes the 20% VAT and add the international shipping cost to Kuwait, the price basically evens out and you end up paying no shipping or next to nothing for shipping when compared to the original listed price. So you could buy stuff from the UK and get it delivered to you in Kuwait for a cost less than if you lived in the UK and bought it yourself over there. Here are some examples to make this clearer:

Sage Dual Boiler Coffee Machine
Listed Price: KD 382
Price shipped to Kuwait: KD 368

Sage Smart Grinder Pro
Listed Price: KD 70
Price shipped to Kuwait: KD 77

Xbox One S FIFA 17 Bundle (500GB)
Listed Price: KD 94
Price shipped to Kuwait: KD 93

Vitamix Standard Blender (Certified Refurbished)
Listed Price: KD 123
Price shipped to Kuwait: KD 127

So as you can see from above this works better when the item is expensive since the 20% VAT would be worth more than the cost of shipping the item to Kuwait. The items would be shipped using AmazonGlobal Priority which uses one of Amazon’s shipping partners like DHL or UPS. The items would be delivered to your door in Kuwait in around a weeks time. The voltage in the UK is also similar to Kuwait so you won’t need power transformers or anything of the sort. So if you’re looking for an item that you can’t find in Kuwait or you’ve found it but is too expensive, try finding it on Amazon UK, it might come out to be a pretty good deal.

Update: One thing to add, the “Price shipped to Kuwait” includes an “Import Fees Deposit”. Basically the customs fee for importing the item into Kuwait. Once your package gets delivered, Amazon will refund you either the full deposit or partial amount from the deposit. So the actual price you pay is even cheaper than what I have listed above