The photo above is of the first large Al Mailem showroom which they opened back in 1971. Al Mailem if you aren’t aware are one of the largest retailers of tires in Kuwait and they have a whole bunch of locations up and down Canada Dry st.
I’ve actually been trying to find old photos of Canada Dry street from the 60s and 70s but can’t seem to find any and not sure where to look anymore. But, I just thought of an idea while typing this post up of trying and putting together a post with old photos of car dealerships similar to the photo of the first AlBabtain dealership pictured above. If you work at any of the car dealerships in Kuwait please email me!
23 replies on “Al Mailem First Showroom”
Why is it called Canada Dry street?
Don’t quote me on this but I think that’s where the old Canada Dry factory used to be.
Yes, that is the exact reason
Also I just checked with my dad, he told me that the factory’s main gate used to be where the current McDonald’s is located at.
There is a pepsi cola street as well
There used to be a Canada Dry sign
Interesting story on how Al Babtain acquired Nissan.
Al Babtain use to have a Japanese tires brand, they use to transfer tires across Kuwait and the roads were unforgiving. The Japanese tire brand told Al Babtain why don’t you get a Japanese car to help you transport tires.
So they got a few cars.. from that Japanese brand called “Nissan”, fast forward till today and Nissan is Al Babtain’s bread and butter.
oh i didn’t know that story!
Very interesting story!
Thanks for sharing.
The tire brand was Yokohama and My grandfather wanted to sell it to the English in Al-ahmadi but there weren’t any roads back then so Yokohama sent him two Patrol kits that he installed and used to transfer tires. He liked them so much that he acquired the agency.
Thats also why the street next to the Old City Center was called Pepsi Street.
I believe the old 7up factory is still in that same area behind the old city center.
My dad used to take us there when we would have these big house parties so that we could return crates of empty bottles to exchange for new crates ..
My brother and I would decide between what we wanted .. like half crush and half strawberry Miranda and hi cola . boxes of Sunkist etc.. .. fun times
Not entirely true, there used to be Al-Shawaf as well who used to be the agents for Nissan back in the day. The cars they could sell were split between the two agencies.
Al-Shawaf used to be agents for a company called Prince and Al-babtain were the agents for Nissan. Nissan bought Prince so both became Nissan agents.
Oh yeah also from there it was always direct to the KDD factory in Shuwaikh to load up on tubs of Ice Cream .. In those days you could actually get an industrial tub of chocolate and vanilla ice-cream perfect for parties and get togethers 🙂
Does anyone else think Al Mailem is a fraud? Michelin was completely full at one point so I had to go to al mailem on the other side of the road for a single new tire. The worker was hell bent on selling me break “services” telling me my carbon ceramics were “corroded and damaged” he then went on to talk more BS and only decided to work after i told him to put my old tire back and i wasnt gonna pay him.
Brake*
What car u driving that has carbon ceramic brakes???
911 Turbo-s
Why u taking the car to Mailem? The only tires you should have on your car are Michelin or Pirelli 🧐
Like i said Michelin was full and i needed a single tire. Mailem was on the other side of the road from Michelin and has continental tires. I needed a tire and didn’t want to drive of a shitty damaged tire. It was a quick fix.
ohhhh I didn’t know the Turbo S came with Continental titles, I assumed they would be Michelin’s Pilot Sport’s or Pirelli P-Zeros…
It comes with p-zeros but my amg has continental so i know it’s a decent tire. I was in a rush and didnt want to wait for Michelin to free up. Personally i prefer Michelin over pirelli. Either way i got ride of the Porsche, it was a pain.
Got rid* ffs