Category: Shopping

I passed by Sultan Center in Dhajeej yesterday and noticed they had a section called “Consume by Expiry”. Basically its products that are about to expire soon (end of October) and they were being sold at heavily reduced prices. They had a whole range of products like cereal boxes, salsa dips, soups, chocolate, BBQ sauce, granola bars, maple syrup, pasta and more. I ended up picking up a case of A&W root beer for 50fils per can instead of the usual cost of 220fils a can. Also picked up Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes Gold for only 150fils. Pretty good deal.

I left Marina Crescent after meeting up with a friend and was on my way home when I decided to pass by Brands for Less. I hadn’t been there in ages and since Nat was at the gym I could kill a bit of time there checking out what they had. I got lucky!

While browsing through all their electronics section I noticed something, the MUJI CD player! Its a beautifully designed CD player designed by the famous Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa back in 1999. It has built in speakers and just two buttons on the top, very minimalistic. I had originally seen it at a MUJI store in Munich and although I found it beautiful, at nearly $200 it was too expensive for me to justify the purchase. So here out of the blue I was at Brands for Less standing in front of an item that no one around me had a clue what it was. I looked at the price and it was just KD7.850!

So I picked up the box and headed to the cashier. Before I paid the employee asked me if I wanted to try it out to make sure it works. He plugged it in and we put a CD but nothing happened. After a few minutes we declared it dead until I remembered that the CD player design was influenced by a kitchen fan and to turn on a kitchen fan you tug on the cable underneath which I did and the player came to life. I then decided to see if I could get the price reduced to KD5 because the package was ripped but I only managed to get the price dropped down to KD6. Basically, I bought a $180 MUJI CD player for just $20! I am going to drill it into my kitchen wall and use it to listen to Radiohead while I bake.

For those of you who were interested in the “Ethernet over Power” adapters I had posted about previously. They had some more in stock and they’re still selling a box that comes with 3 adapters for KD13.700.

I just read on Frankom’s blog that the Sony dealer in Kuwait has an incredible offer on the new PS3 Slim. For a limited time offer they’re selling it for KD69. If they don’t have a decent amount of stock available then they’re probably already sold out by the time you read this.

Note: This deal is just available at their newly opened Avenues branch. It’s located near D*Lush and Nokia.

Update: This is what one reader had to say about his experience trying to get the PS3 Slim:

OK everyone I got it, its 120 GB euro, plays all region games, but the sony shop was horreendous i went at 11:00 am and was # 84 out of 120, it was a big mess, people shouting and old women begging for numbers. two kids even fingered the sales guy back side for a number which caused an even bigger delay, completly dis-organized , but cant blame them selling its for nearly half price, al ghanim is getting it in october for 100kd pre order, sony selling it for 69 is gonna cause chaos, but they should have been prepared to be honest. only good thing is that women dont have to wait for a number, by 12:00 i recieved mine and they had stopped giving numbers out so if you want to go in the evening i dont think there will be any left

Update2: According to Cajie a blog reader, when he passed by at 1PM the stock had already been finished.

Picture taken by Cajie

A couple of days ago Gucci in Fanar was shutdown by the ministry. Of course rumors quickly started to spread that Gucci was shutdown because they were caught selling fake goods. That is not true of course. The reason Gucci was shutdown is because the inspector wanted to see the original store license which they didn’t have. They only had a copy of the license in Fanar because the original was at the head office in Shuwaikh so the inspector shutdown the shop for the day.

I passed by Tilal Complex tonight to check out the new Tamiya store. They opened up in Tilal back in December 2008 but recently they moved to a larger store on the first floor. I was expecting the new store to be bigger than the previous but it turned out to be like 10 times bigger and looked amazing! Seriously I was in shock. It was very nicely organized, they have stations in the back where you could go and build your car, they even rent tools. They also have a painting room with exhausts for the fumes, a small photography studio where you can take pictures of your car and my favorite section, the spare parts! They have hundreds and hundreds of parts occupying the whole right side of the shop. What I used to hate about their old store was the fact that you had to know what part you wanted and then ask the salesman to get it for you from behind the counter but now I can just browse and find parts and accessories myself.

I really really love their new store and I highly recommend anyone that is interested in radio controlled cars or plastic models to visit it. They’re located on the first floor of Tilal Complex, opposite their older store. Oh and they have this HUGE space right by the shop where they are currently building a race track.

Here is a link to their website [Link]
Their phone number is 22256707

Was checking out the ticket prices to London with British Airways and turns out they’re having a sale. Round trip ticket with taxes comes out to KD143.500. The cheapest I’ve previously gotten with them is KD140. [Link]

Office Depot has finally opened at the Avenues and I am kind of disappointed. I expected the place to be much bigger and have more stuff but at the moment they have a little of everything which I guess is ok for a shopping mall branch. They really need to have a much bigger place if they want to compete with the likes of Mogahwi. On the bright side at least we have a new franchise in Kuwait.

Update: I got the following response from the Office Depot marketing team:

In the future, we will have stand alone stores that will be much bigger in size having a bigger range as well as smaller stores that will have a limited selection focusing on stationery and small office supplies. Our focus is on offering the customers all they need in one shop at competitive prices, good customer service & an excellent shopping experience. We started with the Avenues store mainly for individual consumers however we will service business clients for that store as well. Our future plan is to open business targeted stores as well & in 2010, we will also launch our catalogue that will have the full range of products from all categories.

For more information, you can email us at [email protected] or check www.alshaya.com
If you want to receive a sms or email whenever we do offers, you can fill your info here https://www.alshaya.com/OfficeDepot/

I wouldn’t wear a Tokyoflash watch but I do find them interesting. Sites like Gizmodo keep posting about their different models and every model is like geekier than the next. For those of you who haven’t heard of Tokyoflash they’re basically watches that tell time in unconventional ways using LEDs and mostly without numbers or clock hands.

They’re very weird and I find some of their models nearly impossible to tell the time. But, for those of you who’re interested there is a shop that just opened in Muthana Complex selling Tokyoflash watches and they’re located on the ground floor close to Pizza Hut. [Link]

I got an email from the owner of a new boutique called Twist telling me about these BlackBerry covers they have which I found interesting. The covers are hand made using a technique called decopatch. This makes every cover unique with no two a like. I am not sure if they make them in Kuwait themselves or they’re made outside but I like the idea. She didn’t mention how much they cost but hopefully its something reasonable. If you’re interested they have a Facebook page with pictures of some of their covers and contact information [Link]

This retro looking Boombox looks pretty good and is selling for around KD38 on Amazon. I want the black one! [Amazon]

It seems there is a local Logitech website where you can purchase Logitech products and have them delivered to you the very next day. The coolest part has to be their prices, from what I checked their prices either were slightly more expensive than Amazon or slightly cheaper.

Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote
Amazon: KD55.500
Logitech Kuwait: KD49.950

Logitech Illuminated Keyboard
Amazon: KD19.500
Logitech Kuwait: KD26.950

Logitech QuickCam Sphere
Amazon: KD31.850
Logitech Kuwait: KD36.450

Logitech X-140 Speakers
Amazon: KD8.850
Logitech Kuwait: KD8.450

Here is the link to the website. [Link]

Thanks Cajie

I own too many headphones for some reason and yet I always manage to convince myself I need a new pair. I currently own a B&O A8, Shure E2, Sennheiser PX100, AKG K81 DJ and the Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro. These cover just about every type of headphone from in ear’s, to over head, from open air to closed back, and from tiny to large and bulky. Whats missing are a pair of noise canceling headphones. I originally fell in love with the noise canceling Beats but due to the fact they weren’t very portable made them unpractical for my main reason of wanting noise canceling headphones and that’s traveling.

So after a bit of research I decided to buy a pair of Sennheiser PXC250’s. I had read about them ages ago and remembered them again with the release of the newer updated PXC300. But after some googling I realized the 300’s were just a slight improvement over the 250 but were also double the price. So without hesitation I bought the 250’s from Amazon for just $73.

I’ve been listening to them for over an hour now and the headphones don’t have much bass. I was expecting that based on previous reviews I had read but since I will be primarily using them to watch TV shows on my Archos 7, its not a big deal for me but might be to you. The noise canceling seems to be working right. The dryer is on and when I turn the noise canceling on I don’t hear it, when off I do. The proper test will be using it on the plane which I should be soon.

The little device thats in the picture above is the battery holder. The Sennheisers work with or without battery but the noise cancellation only works with batteries. Once I get back from a trip will post another review on these.

The Sennheiser PXC 250 is for $72 on Amazon [Link]
The Sennheiser PXC 300 is for $128 on Amazon [Link]

I think I’ve found the cheapest HDMI cable in Kuwait at Ace Hardware. The 2 meter cable cost only KD2.100 while the 3 meter version cost KD2.600. The previous cheapest I had found was at Lulu Hypermarket, KD3.950 for a 1.5 meter.

Note: With HDMI cables the cheapest transmits video as good as the most expensive.

AndyQ8 just posted a list of shops that will be opening at the 360 Mall.
Click on continue to see the full list.

I just got an email from Q80 Boy telling me that 360 Mall will be opening this Thursday. Should be interesting, here is a link to their website. [Link]

Update: The stores that will most likely be open on Thursday are Geant, Toys R Us, Lush, Nike, Intersport, Marks & Spencer, A Pea in the Pod, Bebe and a handful of others. (Thanks AndyQ8)

Update2: 360 Mall just contacted me, they are no longer opening tomorrow it’s changed to the 5th of July.

Update2: Kuwait Black Market has pictures of the inside of the mall which you can check [Here]