2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
Someone just told me that Al-Sayer Al-Ghanim are launching a new store in Kuwait thats similar in concept to The Home Depot in the US. Supposedly its going to be called “Platform” and they will be launching some time mid this month. I think its about time someone is opening a decent home improvement place here in Kuwait, the only thing we have is Ace Hardware but it really doesn’t have a lot of things.
We were at the supermarket picking up some munchies when on our way to the cashier we noticed a bunch of self checkout counters. It was hard to grasp the concept at first, I check out my stuff? Who will check and see if I was honest and didn’t skip anything? I still don’t know how they make sure people don’t cheat (probably monitor them with CCTV’s) but the idea of having customers check themselves out is unreal.
Its a pretty easy process, you take your items one by one, scan them on the machine and place them in the bag. Then you have a number of ways to pay, I chose credit card and just placed my card in the machine and that was it. Its the coolest thing ever.
On paper it doesn’t take much to open a store in Kuwait, the business process is comprised of the following: get money, get franchise, get location. The same store you visited a few years back on your summer vacation to an Arab hotspot (London, California, DC) has now shown up in your neighborhood avenue. In the past ten years, most Kuwaitis have grown accustomed to the growth of shopping malls and their associated brand names. The Midases of Kuwait who do come up with their own names are merely an amalgamation of other brands.
So what is one to do if the franchises (or combination of them under a local name) do not carry the products you are looking for?
You make it yourself.
Well, that is what one company recently did with Baroue… The concept was realized by Fahed Al-Mutawa after a bout of frustration finding items for his then newborn. After realizing the need for a child superstore; the idea behind Baroue was hatched, and it came to life through MS (Mutawa/Sayer) Retail (Restaurateurs in previous ventures).
What differs Baroue from any other children’s’ store?
Baroue has gone beyond the cookie-cutter approach of reselling items and retaining franchises; They have created a complete brand/franchise from zero. Their design studio (clothes) is based in London, their factories are in India and their head office is home sweet home, Kuwait.
Their first store is the third largest at the Avenues and carries everything from clothes and toys to a huge dragon that is a playpen in itself. And they have plans of expanding to other countries shortly.
For those who have had the theme song playing endlessly in their head (Baroue, Baroue, Baroue) .. You can blame Yuri Mrakdi, who originally came onboard as a Marketing director (and later sang the song). For the techies, you can track your children (RFID armbands) playing in the dragon through the kiosks scattered around the store.
Well not really cheap but cheaper than what a lot of people are selling their iPhones for. Click n Buy are selling the 8GB iPhone for KD219. Compared to Eureka’s KD399 price and compared to individuals who are selling their phones for KD230-KD250, suddenly Click n Buy looks like a good deal. [Link]
So the new Max OS is available to pre-order from Amazon.com for $109. I placed my order but I wish they had it available as a download on the first day of release. Kinda like the Radiohead album. Actually, like the Radiohead album, it would also be cool if we could decide on the price ourselves, I would have paid $50 instead of $109. [Amazon Link]
I thought a lot of people knew about this already but I am still getting emails from people telling me they tried ordering an iPhone from the Apple Store but that its asking them for a US shipping address.
What you need to do to order an iPhone from the Apple Store or any electronic item from Amazon for that matter is to set up a US forwarding mailbox. Basically its a mailbox thats located in the States and anything that arrives in it will get forwarded to your address here in Kuwait.
There are four companies in Kuwait that offer this service and I’ve tried all four of them, my favorite and the one I use the most is U Shop We Ship. The main reason I prefer it over the competition is the fact that signing up to their service can be done online and all payments for the shipments can also be paid online. This makes things really practical. Items usually take 3 to 4 days to arrive to Kuwait once shipped from your US mailbox.
I know a lot of people have tried ordering iPhones from the Apple Store and have had their shipments canceled. I don’t know why thats happening and why it works with some people and not with others. I myself have ordered 3 iPhones with the last one around 10 days ago and I haven’t had any cancellations yet. I’ve also received the iPhones quickly without paying any custom fees. I don’t have any advice or tips on how to avoid getting your order canceled, I guess it could be random thing.
update: To find out what firmware you have on an un-activated iPhone do the following dial *3001#12345#* and then push “Call”
If you see 03.12.06_G then your firmware is 1.0.0
If you see 03.14.08_G then your firmware is 1.02
If you see 04.01.13_G then your firmware is 1.1.1
I passed by Mac&More tonight in Marina Mall and noticed they had the new iMacs on display but I forgot to ask how much they were selling for. I wish I had an excuse to buy one…
I was browsing Safat when I found a post by CyberRowdy on this local website where you can purchase fish online and have it delivered to your house. It’s pretty strange but cool, they have pictures and everything check it out. [Link]
Source CyberRowdy
It seems some people are having trouble purchasing stuff from the Apple Store online with a local credit card. So far I know for a fact it works with NBK and Gulf Bank credit cards. I also know for a fact that if you put your shipping and billing address as U Shop We Ship it works BUT I can’t confirm that it works if you use your Aramex Shop & Ship address. It seems people who use the Aramex address are getting their orders canceled.
Can anyone here confirm if they were able to purchase items from the Apple Store using a local credit card and a Aramex Shop & Ship account?
Marzouq was supposed to get me an iPhone with him from the States but he couldn’t buy one from the store without signing up for an AT&T contract. So I decided to order one online from the Apple Store.
Thing is because of all my traveling and shopping these past 3 weeks my credit card is completely maxed out, like KD80 over the limit. I figured let me place an order on the store and see if it works, if it didn’t then it didn’t and if it did great. Surprisingly, it went through. MTC Zain couldn’t charge my last months phone bill to my card cuz it was maxed out yet Apple somehow managed to charge an iPhone!
Anyway for those of you who want to buy an iPhone, Amazon.com don’t sell it but you can purchase the phone directly from the US Apple Store online. For your shipping and billing address fill in your USWS or Aramex address. For your credit card you can use a local card. I personally used my NBK Visa card and it worked. I don’t know if it works with cards from other banks like Gulf Bank, Burgan etc.. but I am guessing they should. Enjoy!
All the new iPods are now available on Amazon to order. It’s realy tough trying to figure which iPod to get…
Apple 16 GB iPod touch
Apple 8 GB iPod touch
Apple 160 GB iPod Classic
Apple 80 GB iPod Classic
Apple 8 GB iPod nano with Video
Apple 4 GB iPod nano with Video
I don’t know what they’re called, I just call it the egg chair. Gallery Vanlian opened up (finally) at The Avenues and they are selling the egg chair for KD450. It’s not really comfortable to sit in but looks pretty cool. They have some pretty random stuff there my favorite being the Bodum kitchenware.
Since its my day off today I decided to go and change the tires on my Wrangler. After a bit of searching I landed at Dunlop and ended up getting my tires from there. I wasn’t planning to get Dunlops but they had a really great offer where if you buy 3 tires they give you the 4th for free. The offer is going on until mid September if anyone is interested and they are located opposite Ace Hardware.
So today morning I received an email telling me that PUMA and Nike were both opening stores in the next few days and two images of the interiors were attached. After corresponding with the sender some more it turns out the stores were actually opening today and that they were in fact individual stores inside the new Athlete’s Foot in The Avenues. So for lunch I decided to pass by and check it out.
The Athlete’s Foot store is located near Va Va Voom. The entrance is around two stores wide but the place is really deep. It’s not as big as GoSport which is humongous but its still around 3 to 4 times the size of Foot Locker. When you first walk in to the place its your typical Athlete’s Foot but after you climb a few steps the store gets divided into 3 smaller stores, a Nike store, a Puma store and an Adidas store (hey are separated by transparent plastic walls).
The Nike section sadly is nowhere as big as the Nike store in the Mall of the Emirates but it’s better then nothing I guess.
