Category: Shopping

After a number of delays, the new Al Kout Mall is finally set to open next Monday, April 16th. The new Al Kout Mall is replacing Al Manshar Mall which was torn down back in 2013. The Al Kout Mall website has also been updated with all the shops and restaurants that will be opening there. To check out the list visit alkout.com. Their instagram is @alkoutmall

With Al Kout Mall opening its doors next week and Avenues Phase 4 complete, the next big mall to open up is Assima in Kuwait City which is expected to be ready by Q3 2019.

I was in blockat the other night and came across this pretty strange shop. The shop mostly specializes in scales, everything from small Tanita home scales to heavy-duty commercial ones. But, that occupied just half the store, the other half was filled with random things like crucibles to melt gold in, old-fashioned steering wheel locks, kitchen knives, butter churns and a science section.

The shop sold biology, chemistry and physics equipment and labware, and most of it looked pretty old school like they’ve been sitting on the shelves for decades.

So if you’re ever in need of tubes, flasks, chemicals, skeletons or whatever, then you could check this place out. It’s also fun to just walk around in since the store has so much random stuff.

The place is called Ibrahim & Mohd.Soud Al-Farhan Trad. Co. and they’re located in Kuwait City in the blockat area. They’re also on [Google Maps].

You’ve probably come across Aesop hand soaps in restaurant washrooms, they’re dark bottles like in the picture on top, and they tend to smell amazing. If you’ve been to any of the Aesop stores around the world you might have picked up a bottle or two and brought them back with you. Or maybe even had a friend get you some when on vacation. But, it’s not really practical getting them while on vacation since the bottles take up luggage space, are fairly heavy, and what if you run out and need some more? A better solution is ordering them online.

There are a number of places online you can order Aesop from but the website I use is the UK based Cult Beauty. They have two kinds of hand wash available as well as a bunch of other Aesop products, but what I like about them is the cost of shipping to Kuwait. The maximum you are allowed to order is 6 pieces of hand wash the shipping cost with DHL is for 6 is £15. If you order 6 of each of their hand washes (so a total of 12), then they’ll ship it via DHL for free.

I haven’t bought 12 bottles at once but I have bought 6 pieces. If you order 6 then the cost per bottle after shipping and customs comes to KD11, which is the same price as if you purchased a bottle in the UK. How is that possible? When you order Aesop to Kuwait they remove the 20% VAT which brings the price down from around KD11 to around KD9. Adding shipping and customs to Kuwait and the price comes back up to the UK retail price of KD11. If you order 12 bottles then the price per bottle ends up actually being cheaper than the price per bottle in the UK since you don’t pay for shipping, just customs.

So if you’re looking to get Aesop hand wash, this is probably the cheapest way to get it to Kuwait. You can check out the full range of Aesop products on Cult Beauty [Here]

Update: I originally posted saying each bottle would cost you KD13 shipped to Kuwait but I completely forgot one important thing, when you ship to Kuwait they remove the 20% VAT. So the cost of the bottle with shipping and customs to Kuwait is actually the same price as if you bought a bottle while on vacation in the UK.

I was talking to a friend last night who doesn’t drive and has to walk or take a cab to go get her groceries. So I was like why don’t you just order your groceries online?

We actually have a lot of options to choose from, so I decided to put together a list. Here are all the websites I’m aware of that deliver groceries:

Baqal
Baqala
Blue Passion
Dukkan
E-baqala
FAME
Fresh Mozzarella
Gourmet Me
Gourmet Shelf
Healthy Shop
InstaSalla (Only App)
OnCost
Lulu
Natureland
Prime Cuts
SaveCo
Taw9eel
The Approved Market
The Sultan Center
Tons (Only App)

If I missed anything let me know!

Earlier this morning I was able to tour the new phase of Avenues, Phase 4. The Avenues extension is set to open on February 25th and so they invited the media today to walk around, explore and take photos.

Avenues Phase 4 includes expansions of existing districts like Prestige, Grand Avenue, and The Souk. But, they’ve also added new districts that include Arcadia, The Grand Plaza, The Forum, Electra and The Cinema, as well as a five-star and four-star hotel.

Phase 4 is HUGE, and its beautiful. They’ve basically taken the Grand Avenue indoor-but-looks-like-outdoor-look and built on it. It’s bright, airy and the main street is wide with lots of little alleyways that connect the various districts.

From what I saw there won’t be much open by February 25th other than a bunch of Alshaya brands, but it will still be a great space to wander about and explore.

If you want to check out more pictures of Phase 4 then check out my story on instagram. I’ve archived the story and so it should be up for some time. Check it out @mark248am

Update: I was just informed that February 25th is the target date but they’re still unsure if they’ll open by then. Also I uploaded a bunch of photos in hi-res which you can view [Here]

Avenues Phase 4
The fourth phase of Avenues is on target to open up next month on February 25th. They’ve invited some of the media to take a tour of the new phase at the end of this month so we should get new photos of a nearly complete mall pretty soon.

Al Kout Mall
The new Al Kout Mall is expected to open up in March with an exact target date of March 15th. Al Kout Mall is replacing Al Manshar Mall which was torn down back in 2013.

Assima Mall
Finally, even though Assima Mall construction site caught fire back in June, they’re still planning to open by Q3 2019. I think the fire delayed the project by just a few months since 2019 was always their target date.

Over the weekend I dropped by the Ferrari dealership to check out their cars and prices. If you’re curious to know how much their different models cost, check them out below:

Ferrari California T
KD74,000

Ferrari 488 GTB
KD93,000

Ferrari 488 Spider
KD97,000

Ferrari GTC4Lusso
KD100,000

Ferrari 812 Superfast
KD103,000

I recently found out about an instagram account in Kuwait that sells cool looking vintage typewriters. The majority are in Arabic but they do get English ones every now and then as well. Vintage typewriters can make a great gift, especially to a writer. For example I once bought a friend of mine who used to write poems a vintage typewriter, the same one Leonard Cohen used to type up his first poetry book (pictured above). They loved it and it was fully functional so they were able to use it right away. So if you’re looking to get one for yourself or as a gift, check out the instagram account @8.6s

Thanks barwaleathercraft

Over the weekend I was in Bahrain and dropped by the recently opened Avenues there to check it out since I had some time to kill. It’s pretty tiny compared to Avenues Kuwait but they’ve got great outdoor seating that overlooks the bay.

I’m not sure how many phases Avenues Bahrain has, I think just two with the first phase currently the only one open. The first phase looks like Grand Avenues here in Kuwait just a bit longer and tighter. Currently not much is open there and what is open we have in Kuwait, so it’s probably not worth checking out yet.

Watersouq is a website that focuses on just one thing, bottled water, and I like that. It’s very specific but because they’re very focused they do it pretty well. I think they have nearly every water brand that’s available in Kuwait on their website so even if you’re looking for an obscure brand, you’ll probably find it listed there. They also seem to have a bunch of deals going on like buy 10 boxes get 2 free or buy 20 get 6 free which is great if you’re buying in bulk for your office or large home.

It actually makes sense to buy in large quantities because Watersouq charge KD1 for delivery and an additional 400fils service charge. If this seems like something you’re interested in, here a linke to their [Website]

If you’re looking for graffiti supplies then you need to know about this place. Kuz Store is a small graffiti supplies store located in Bneid Al-Qar. The store has been open for a few months now and carries a huge variety of Montana cans, spray paint caps as well as some merchandise including a few Diamond Supply t-shirts.

Kuz Store is open daily from Saturday to Thursday from 6PM to 10PM and then closed on Fridays. Here is their location on [Google Maps] and you can follow them on twitter @kuzstore

Last month I posted that the UFC Gym would be opening up at Assima Mall, but since then Assima have announced that a few other brands will also be opening there.

The upmarket French department store Galeries Lafayette, the French retail chain Monoprix and the National Geographic store are three new brands that will be opening at Assima. The Assima project is located in Kuwait City across from KIPCO Tower and is expected to be completed in 2019.

For more information on Assima, you can visit their website [Here]

Thanks Zaydoun

I’m a big fan of ecommerce websites especially local ones since there aren’t that many of them. My Athath is a new one thats just soft launching today and focuses on furniture and home accessories.

What I liked about My Athath is the style of the furniture thats currently on there for sale, most of which I wouldn’t mind having at my place. They currently have 13 brands at launch, a mixture between local and international ones with the aim to have a lot more added soon. Personally I hope the furniture is curated in some sort of capacity so the website doesn’t become overwhelming to just randomly browse through with too many items. The way it is right now everything on there is pretty much hot except for the Coleman items which seem out of place.

So if you want to check it out you can visit it by going to myathath.com

Aramex Shop & Ship just launched a new service called Flex in which you pay for your shipments per 100 grams instead of the standard per 500 grams. Usually if you get a package that weighs 300 grams, Aramex would charge you as if it was 500, if your shipment weighed 600 grams then you would get charged for a kilo. By paying per 100 grams instead of 500, you should be able to save on shipping costs.

It would have been a game changer in the US mailbox forwarding market if it wasn’t for the fact that to be eligible for the new pricing structure, you need to pay Aramex KD35 a year. So whatever savings you would accumulate with the Flex pricing structure, you’d most likely end up losing it all with the Flex yearly fee. Not very practical unless you order a lot of items online. If you’re interested to find out more, click [Here]

The iPhone 8 just went on sale a few days ago in the States and its already available in Kuwait. Since it hasn’t officially been released in Kuwait yet the prices as expected are pretty ridiculous at the moment. Here are some of the current prices:

Best Electronics
iPhone 8 Plus 256GB: KD400

Blink
iPhone 8 256GB: KD315
iPhone 8 Plus 256GB: KD400

Eureka
iPhone 8 Plus 64GB: KD300

Mobile 2000
iPhone 8 Plus 64GB: KD300

The official Kuwait prices in comparison are as follows:

iPhone 8 64GB: KD245
iPhone 8 256GB: KD297
iPhone 8 Plus 64GB: KD278
iPhone 8 Plus 256GB: KD332

A bunch of places have pre-orders for the official release including Xcite and Jarir. The expected release date is September 30th.

If you’re hoping to get your hands on the iPhone X then you’re going to have to wait a bit longer since the iPhone X is scheduled to be launched in the US on November 3rd.

Thanks Frankom