Category: Shopping

Lanvin started a 60% sale yesterday on menswear and only on menswear. Turns out they’re closing down the mens section permanently so they’re getting rid of their stock. I picked up a wallet but they also had some good tshirts and you can’t go wrong with their sneakers (although 60% off on KD300+ shoes is still KD100+). Lanvin is located in Prestige section of Avenues between Ralph Lauren and Tod’s.

Shakshooka, the nomadic farmers market is taking place tonight from 6PM to 8PM at Al Kout Mall in Fahaheel near the fountain. Here is the location on [Google Maps]

Don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff.

Photo above by @faisalthef

Friday night I passed by with a friend to the Alshaya Staff Shop in Shuwaikh. The shop is located inside the Alshaya headquarters and its only for Alshaya employees, their family and friends. The store sells heavily discounted leftover stock from previous Alshaya sales, and my friend told me there were a ton of items left over from Harvey Nichols which is why I HAD to pass by.

For those of you who’ve been to the Villa Moda discount store when they were open, you’ll feel right at home at the Alshaya Staff Shop. The place is packed with luxury items but packed on top of each other and you basically need to flip through the items one by one to find anything. The first section I tackled was the shoes and for some reason it felt like Black Friday, so I started flipping through everything as if there was a crowd behind me fighting over the shoes. In reality though, the shop was empty except for me and my friends but I kept getting the feeling that if I didn’t go through the shoes fast enough they would quickly disappear. I panicked, I was all over the place and I was in heaven.

Once I was done with the shoes section I started flipping through the clothes. According to the employee there, the last time the mens section got restocked was three months ago and I was flipping through the leftover of the leftover. That didn’t make sense because I found a bunch of gorgeous Alexander McQueen shirts just sitting there, three of which I had my eyes on when they were still displayed at Harvey Nichols. How those shirts were still available at the Alshaya Staff Shop I have no clue but better for me. Not only were most of these items being sold at 70% at Harvey Nichols when they were on sale, but once they get moved to the Alshaya Staff Shop they get discounted even further and then on top of that discount there is an additional 30% off if you’re an Alshaya employee or you’re with an Alshaya employee.

I ended up leaving with a couple of sneakers and shirts. Just to give you an idea of how ridiculously cheap the prices were, I got the pair of hightop sneakers pictured above for just KD17.5 after discount. KD17.5 for really soft leather sneakers that are more comfortable and look better than my Loubs. Their original price at Harvey Nichols was KD220 and they’re still selling for nearly KD200 online. So if you have a friend that works at Alshaya, force them to take you to their shop. Women are supposedly getting a restock this week.

The Kuwait Textile Arts Association is hosting a ‘Winter Bazaar’ at the historic Beit Al Sadu where you’ll be able to find original designs, quilts, bags, table linens, silks, designer jewelry, shawls, crochet, hand embroidery and more. It’s taking place this weekend so if you’re interested here are the details:

Date: Saturday, December 7th 2013
Time: 10AM to 6PM
Location: Sadu House, Gulf Road [Map]

Qout Market is an outdoor market that started last month and will be taking place again this coming Saturday, December 7th. The market takes place on the first Saturday of every month and this month it’s going to be located on the roof of the Arraya Center parking lot in Kuwait City. [Map]

The market will be bigger this month and have a petting zoo, a stage, stands selling crafts, street food, fresh flowers, jarred items, artisanal products, a kids and crafts lane, baked goods and local produce. It will be open all day long from 10AM to 7PM.

For more information here is a link to their [Facebook Page]

Could you please introduce self checkout counters?

Thank you.

Qout Market is a new farmers market (not to be confused with the Shakshooka pop-up farmers market) that will be launching this Saturday November 2nd. Qout Market will take place on the first Saturday of every month starting with this month and it’s going to be located in the large space between the Arraya parking lot and the Arraya mall in Kuwait City (picture below) across from Hamra Tower [Map].

The Qout Market will have stands selling crafts, street food, fresh flowers, jarred items, artisanal products, baked goods and local produce. The market will be open all day long from 10AM to 10PM. I’m sadly not going to be in Kuwait to check it out but if you are then you should. For more information you can check them out on [Facebook] or follow them on [Instagram]

Kilshay is a local app that collects flyers and catalogs from different companies on a daily basis. It then groups them all up under different categories and allows you to access them from your iPhone or iPad. I’ve had it for a week now and I think it’s pretty fast and quick to use with the only downside being some of the small text in the catalogs are pixelated. Other than that this app is much more practical than collecting all the flyers that get left outside your apartments door. The app is free and you can download it from the App Store. Here’s also a link to their [Website]

If you’ve been to The Prestige section of Avenues you’ve most likely noticed the large boxes near the entrance. Every time I pass by the area the boxes would be in different positions with a “Do not move” paper stuck to them. It was driving me crazy trying to figure out what they were for. My best guess was that there was some kind of event that was taking place at The Prestige after hours but turns out the real reason wasn’t as exciting. I found a security guard today standing near a box and asked him what they were for he told me they’re currently replacing the marble near the entrance and the boxes are placed over the sections they don’t want people to walk on. That’s it.

I was having trouble finding sprinkles for the upcoming “The Belly” post when a friend of mine told me about a place in Shuwaikh that specializes in baking called Tavola. Not sure why sprinkles are difficult to find but I headed out to Shuwaikh looking for Tavola and found it after calling them up and getting directions over the phone.

Once I walked in I headed right to the back to their baking section and I just stood there for a minute or two with my jaw wide open. The employee there asked me if he could help me with anything and I told him I just needed a minute to absorb the place in. It was incredible, they had everything including stuff I didn’t know you could even buy. They had like a million different cupcake and muffin cups, tons of stuff from Wilton like display packaging and stands for your desserts, they had cookie cutters, molds, baking books you name it they had it.

Once I was done picking up what I needed from their baking section I decided to explore the rest of the store. Turns out they’re the dealers for two brands I love:

Zwilling J.A.Henckels
Boushahri used to be the agent years ago and they also had a little small store at Radisson SAS but then they disappeared. Turns out Tavola picked the brand up and they had a large selection of their products on display at the store.

WMF
WMF is used by a lot of luxury hotels worldwide and is a great brand for stainless steel pots, pans and cutlery plus a lot of kitchen accessories. I definitely need to go back and pick up some items for my kitchen.

They’re also the dealers for Bodum, Leonard, Alessi and Peugeot mills. I’m in love with the store, it’s one of those places where I was like I need to share this with everyone.

If you’re interested they’re located in Shuwaikh behind London Market and their phone number is 24825761. They have a map as well as photos of their different products and brands on their Instagram page [Here]

For other places I’ve previously focused on click [Here]

Update: They’re also the dealers for Cuisineart. Also here is their location on [Google Maps]

Yesterday I got a phone call from Xcite telling me they launched their iPhone and iPad app. I checked out the iPhone version and it’s not bad although the main page for some reason makes me feel very claustrophobic. I think its because of all the icons squeezed into the bottom 1/3 of the screen. Anyway if you want to download it and check it out just search for Xcite in the App store or click on this [Link]

Taken at 4:30AM by a friend of mine shows the beautiful Grand Avenues at night completely empty. A rare sight.

Many of you have probably seen the video above of the product NeverWet, a ridiculously cool spray-on coating that repels water. When I saw the video I was like I need to have it since it would be perfect to coat my sneakers with. I recently found out that Aramex have eased up on the no liquids shipping rule and decided to test them out by ordering a pack of NeverWet spray from eBay. Aramex didn’t reject the package and have shipped it to me Kuwait at a cost of KD8.75 (weight 2.26 lb). So if you were interested in the product you won’t have a problem getting one to Kuwait. [YouTube]

It’s about time.

Thanks Patrick

If you’re eager to get your hands on a PS4 or an Xbox One on launch day without having to pay ridiculous Kuwait launch day prices this is probably your best option. You can pre-order the consoles from Amazon AND Amazon will ship them directly to Kuwait bypassing your US forwarding mailbox (Shop&Ship/Borderlinx) and saving you a ton on shipping.

According to Amazon, shipping either of the two consoles to Kuwait via their AmazonGlobal Priority Shipping (averages 3-7 days) will cost you just KD14. If you’re interested here are the links to Amazon:

PlayStation 4: Standard Edition
Xbox One Console – Day One Edition

Thanks BAJS