Category: Shopping

Since it’s holiday season I thought it would nice to bring back the Holiday Gift Guide. The last time I put a list together was back in 2005 so it’s been awhile. The list below is made of items I like and think would make great gifts. Might add more if I remember anything else.

Books
Apple Pro Training Series: Final Cut Pro X KD9.5
Apple Pro Training Series: Motion 5 KD10
Wheat Belly KD4.5
Kindle 4 KD22

Cameras
Panasonic GX1 with 14-42mm X Power Zoom Lens KD265
Nikon D7000 with 18-105mm lens KD420
Contour+ KD128
GoPro Hero2 Motorsport Edition KD115
RAM Mounts Windshield Suction Cup Mount Kit KD8.5

Music
Apple iPod Nano 8GB KD34
Sony MDR-XB500 KD14
BeyerDynamic DT 770-PRO KD55
FiiO E7 USB DAC and Portable Headphone Amplifier KD25

Electronics
Apple MacBook Air 13″ 128GB KD340
The Boxee Box KD48
Data Robotics Drobo 4-Bay KD85
Garmin Forerunner 305 with Heart Rate Monitor KD50
Archos 70 – 250 GB KD65

Other
HPI Savage XS Flux RTR Mini Monster Truck KD88
SUPABOY Portable Pocket SNES Console KD23

Note: Most of the items above are linked to Amazon.com

Pawsh is a new local online pet store that sells everything from food to toys for dogs, cats, birds and small pets. The website looks pretty good and is easy to navigate the different categories and find stuff. The prices also seem reasonable and they obviously deliver which is convenient. Check out the website [Here]

Thanks Rayboy

Update: Here is another link to another local online pet store called ePetome. This one also looks pretty good. [Link]

Explorers Base, the outdoors and survival gear store located in Tilal Complex is now online. It seems there is a surge of local retailers going online and this is one trend I don’t mind. Makes things a lot more convenient. [Link]

Eureka have an offer just for today where you can get the iPhone 4s for just KD219. Eureka usually has a habit of running out of stock 2 minutes after opening so I don’t usually post about their offers except this time they’ve mentioned “unlimited quantity”. [Link]

Update: X-Cite have now also lowered the price of the iPhone 4S and you can buy it online directly from [Here]

X-Cite is selling the iPhone 4s on their newly launched online store for KD229 (just for today). That’s basically how much it cost me ordering it directly from Apple UK. [Link]

via LWDLIK

According to a job post on Emirates 24/7, International Service Check are looking for mystery shoppers in Kuwait. I know the last time I posted about mystery shoppers there was a lot of interest so this is a way for you to become one yourself. For more information click [Here]

I remember Tommy being open in Marina Mall around 7 years back but they weren’t doing good (I heard) and they shut down. Now it looks like they’re reopening again but this time at 360 Mall. Their new location is right next to Signor Sassi in place of Yo Sushi! and also right next to Mango.

Interestingly the brand doesn’t seem to be owned by Alshaya anymore. When Tommy was previously open in Kuwait Alshaya had the brand but, I just checked out the Alshaya website and there is no sign of Tommy Hilfiger so it looks like it’s opening under new ownership.

My favorite gym gloves are Harbinger and I’ve been using them for nearly two years now. I had a hard time finding them back then since there were limited places that sold them and not only did I have trouble finding the right model I also had a hard time finding the right size. Over the weekend I noticed Go Sport started carrying the Harbinger brand as well and they had a huge collection of gloves on display as well as support belts. So if you’re interested in new work out gloves you should pass by before they also run out of models and sizes.

Halloween is coming up and Dean & Deluca have some amazing looking pumpkins if you’re into pumpkin carving. But, it might be a good idea to sketch your designs first since at KD12 a pumpkin, any mistake is going to be an expensive one.

A reader going by the nickname “La Revue de Koweit” posted the comment below under the Avenues fight post and I thought it was funny but yet made sense at the same time. Below are 7 fight preventative actions that should be taken:

1) Serious shoppers should avoid going to the Avenues over the weekends and public holidays.

2) Increased presence of law enforcement officers on Segways throughout the mall and mounted on horseback in the parking lot.

3) Videowalls in the courtyard areas with live streaming videos from different fashion houses from Milan, Paris, London, New York and Tokyo plus exhaustive coverage of all the fashion weeks would be a useful distraction to keep the Jahra and/or Saudi set yobs engaged.

4) Rope in LoYAC to arrange activites that excite youth such as, kite flying, skateboarding and karting outside the mall.

5) Organize frequent blood donation drives and free health checks: mobile health camps to make possible blood draws for screening of thalassemia, blood glucose etc, all of which serve as small but rather useful diversions for channeling of youthful energies and making the national sport of weekend birdwatching seem less macabre and more civil.

6) Holding of spelling bees at That-el-salasil.

7) Naming and shaming policy can be a rather useful deterrant. Mugshots and names of the yobs involved in a fight should be displayed on a special bulletein board – the Avenues Fight Barometer for all and sundry to see.

Alshaya recently stopped cash and credit card refunds in all their stores for returned items. According to the article on Arabian Business, this decision by Alshaya has caused an uproar of a sort with shoppers in the UAE but surprisingly I haven’t heard much about this in Kuwait. I don’t think I’ve ever returned anything back to a store so this won’t have much effect on me but I’m sure it’s going to piss quite a few people off. [Link]

Thanks Fred

I was in Dajeej the other day when I passed by Negochi whom I briefly posted about last year. The store is known for their rifles but I left the place more impressed with the other stuff they carried like their huge collection of flashlights, binoculars and even their large collection of glow sticks (ravers rejoice!). The place isn’t that big but it’s packed to the brim with a lot of random cool items that I don’t have any use for but wish I did. For those interested they also carry Leatherman tools although their collection is a bit limited.

I took some pictures with my phone cam hence the low quality shots but you can check out more photos on their Facebook page although their pictures seem old since the shop has a lot more items on display now.

Negochi is located off the 6th Ring Road in Dajeej right behind where the new OSN office is located (down the street from their previous location). You could also call them up if you get lost on 97238543 or 24336426.

I finally got to pass by Payless over the weekend. Payless is the X-Cite Electronics outlet and they’ve been open for a couple of years now (I think) but never really had a reason to pass by until now. I was looking for some Alpine components for my car sound system and I was told I would find some models at Payless. I didn’t end up finding what I was looking for but I still found the place interesting. They had a lot of random stuff all over this large warehouse and some looked like great deals while others didn’t seem discounted at all. They had a lot of laptops, phone accessories and I even spotted a bunch of Sonos devices. They’re located in Shuwaikh near the main Alghanim head quarters opposite City Center. It should be easy to spot since the warehouse has a large yellow sign on top.

Since we’re on the subject of good deals I managed to get my hands on an Alpine PDX-4.150 car stereo amp for just KD21! The retail price for this Amp was $399 in the US before it was discontinued and that’s without tax or shipping cost to Kuwait so KD21 is ridiculously cheap. For some reason X-Cite is getting rid of all their Alpine stock so you can find some really good deals.

If you’re interested in the PDX-4.150 I took a snapshot from their point of sale system showing all the available locations where they might still have them. I passed by the Hawalli and Marina branch but they both didn’t have them even though the computer says they did so I marked them both out. The Rai branch is where I got mine (it was the last piece) and the Baitak Tower branch has one on display but missing some accessories. That leaves 3 other branches which I didn’t pass by but they should have a piece each left so good luck finding one.

I was having lunch today at the Avenues and I noticed Victoria’s Secret is opening up next to Starbucks opposite Lorenzino near The One furniture store. It looks like it’s going to be much larger than the Marina Mall branch so I’m guessing they’re going to have a proper lingerie section which is why I find the location a bit weird.

Jleeb residents will be pleased to know that Géant Easy Supermarket will be opening up in 2 days time in Souk Al Jleeb. This will be their second Géant Easy branch in Kuwait with their first being in Salmiya. Géant Easy is smaller than the regular Géant.