Category: Shopping

A reader made me aware of this cool deal. You can get a $20 Amazon gift voucher for just $10. I just bought one since I shop on Amazon a lot. Just visit the link here and put NYC as your city. This offer is just valid for today. [Link]

The blog 965malls went around The Avenues yesterday and took a picture of every store front that had a sale. In total they counted 98 stores on sale! They then took the 98 pictures of the store fronts and put them together in a collage which you can see a part of in the image above. Check out their blog for the full image and more [Here]

So just before New Years The Avenues announced that starting 2011 it would be non-smoking mall. Well it’s 2011 and I haven’t seen any change. As expected people are still allowed to smoke freely and today I even spotted a shop employee smoking outside her shop as well. We’re still the first week of 2011 and it looks like the smoke free idea has already collapsed.

I think there are a few reasons behind this.

1) There are no signs inside the mall that say “No Smoking”
2) Looks like the employees of the shops don’t know it’s now a smoke free environment
3) Not enough personnel to look out for smokers

Here is what I suggest as solutions:

1) There should be better coordination between the shops and the mall. Maybe the mall could provide the stores with a kit that contains a no smoking sticker for their door and small no smoking stands to place inside the store next to cash register. Maybe there could be a small booklet that explains to the employees why there is this band and what to do in an event they catch a smoker who refuses to stop smoking
2) There should be no smoking signs next to the trash bins and all around the mall
3) There should be more people stationed around the mall keeping an eye out for smokers
4) Create posters or give away fliers to people explaining to them the dangers of smoking and second hand smoke. That way customers will understand the reason behind the ban
5) Think bigger and create a campaign for a smoke free Kuwait and The Avenues could set an example by being the first major establishment to support this

If you guys have any other ideas post them below.

My friend spotted the banner above at Holiday Inn Salmiya. Seems there is a 95% sale on designer brands taking place at their ballroom. I don’t know how long the sale is there for but according to the banner they’re open from 10AM to 10PM.

Thanks Q

Update: Seems today (Wednesday) is their last day

Yesterday the local blogosphere came alive about how starting January 1st The Avenues would turn into a non-smoking mall. I for one was very skeptical when hearing this since the airport for example is supposed to be smoke free yet people there smoke casually without any consequences. At restaurants smokers also usually have the best tables while non-smokers get shoved all the way in the back. Since I was in contact with someone at The Avenues, I decided to find out more about this smoking ban and how they were going to enforce it.

First of all The Avenues is going to be smoke free except for the following areas:
– Designated areas in cafés and restaurants
– Seating areas and space outside The Avenues (open air)
– 9 air freshener machines (pictured above) will be installed at all the basement entrances and those stations will be designated as smoking areas

Regarding enforcing this ban, if The Avenues security personal find anyone smoking they will approach them and ask them to stop. Since they’re a mall they can’t fine smokers themselves but they will be cooperating closely with the police who are present at the mall on a daily basis.

I am a non-smoker and I hate walking in a mall behind someone smoking so personally I really hope this campaign succeeds and The Avenues can truly enforce this smoking ban and set an example.

Last night I posted a sneak peek of the new Choowy Goowy Cafe that’s opening up at 52 Degrees and today Nat passed by and was able to send me pictures of 52 Degrees as well. The place so far looks really cool and that has a lot to do with the fact it was designed by the Kuwaiti architect Ahmed Al-Baghli, the same guy behind the beautiful MELENZANÈ. Nat on the other hand created the 52 Degrees identity. You can check out some sneak peek pictures below, they are soft launching tonight.

For those of you who don’t know what 52 Degrees is, it’s basically a department store that will be filled with Kuwaiti products and creations from clothing and accessories to food and desserts.

A reader sent me two pictures of a very long queue at Geant right now. Seems they have an offer on Samsung 1080 phones, they’re selling it for KD1 and that includes when you buy a KD5 phone line.

Thanks Yousuf

GoNabit is an interesting website that’s been around for awhile now I guess but just recently included Kuwait. It’s a website where they have new offers all the time. Last week for example you could open up an Aramex Shop&Ship account for half price, today for example you can get a KD10 voucher to use at Diva’s for KD5 or you can pay KD10 and get a KD20 voucher to use at Saso Ocean Groove. They have limited quantity on these offers and once they run out they move over to the next offer. For each deal to work a minimum amount of people is required to sign up. For example for the Diva’s offer 10 people need to sign up for it at least. If 10 people sign up then the deal goes through and you get your voucher. If less than 10 people sign up then you get your money back and the offer is canceled. [Link]

Thanks Ghinoua

Update: I added more details on how GoNabit works

I was at Dean & Deluca when I spotted the sign above and I could make out the word seedless underneath the sticker. I love seedless watermelons and always have them whenever I am in the States but never knew why we never got them in Kuwait. So I asked an employee there if they had any seedless watermelon and he told me they ran out but are getting some again in a couple of weeks. Finally seedless watermelons in Kuwait!

So a reader sent me a link to her blog where she wanted me to check out this toy gun she found being sold here in Kuwait. I didn’t see what was so interesting about it until I watched the video. Not sure if I find this funny or serious since it goes both ways depending how you look at it. Make sure you have the volume loud. [YouTube]

Thanks Elle

I noticed Sports Corner in Salmiya has a small section with authentic Red Bull Racing Gear. They had a bunch of their Formula 1 branded gear including Vettel tshirts and Red Bull racing caps and polos. For those of you don’t follow Formula 1, this year Vettel who drives a Red Bull car was the champion.

I’m not a big fan of True Value (I prefer Ace) but I was there over the weekend looking for something when I found two interesting items.

The first is this fire safe/waterproof external hard drive. The idea is that you back your stuff onto it and in case your apartment catches on fire your data would be safe. Price was expensive at around KD180. It costs KD113 on Amazon without shipping and the thing is heavy but I doubt that shipping with Aramex would cost more than KD30 or KD40.

The second interesting thing I found were Daisy brand air rifles. They had the Daisy 840 Grizzly rifle for KD39 (KD12 on Amazon) and the Daisy 880 with Scope for KD49 (KD16 on Amazon). They looked pretty nice.

965 Malls is an interesting new blog that’s basically about all the malls in Kuwait. They post information on the latest shop offers, activities taking place at malls and random tidbits like who shut down, who’s opening up and even about internal mall quarrels. It’s interesting stuff. [Link]

I am not a huge fan of Romain Jerome watches since their style isn’t to my liking but I do like the concept of their DNA series. The ones pictured above are part of the Romain Jerome Titanic DNA collection in which they’ve used steel from the actual Titanic wreck fused with steel from the shipyard in Belfast where the ship was built nearly a hundred years ago to create the rusted watch bezel. You’re literally wearing a part of history on your wrist. They have other DNA collections like the moon dust series in which the watch dial contains mineral dust from the moon while the steel contains fragments from the Apollo XI spacecraft. They even have a Eyjafjallajokull Volcano DNA watch!

Anyway while I was walking through Salhiya on my way to Leila for lunch I spotted the Titanic DNA series in the display window of a shop called Ghaddah in front of LV. I had only seen them in pictures before so it was cool seeing them live. I went in and asked their starting price and if anyone is interested they start at KD3,800 which isn’t too bad considering. Turns out Ghaddah is also the dealer for Richard Mille, now those are watches I really like…

[YouTube]