McDonald’s on the Gulf Road has closed down after opening 25 years ago. This was the first McDonald’s to open in Kuwait back in June 1994 and I remember it made worldwide news because the drive-through line was over 11KM long that day.
Oddly enough just a few weeks ago I randomly found out that the wife of one of my friends was the first customer at the opening. Because she was the first in line, they told her she could host her birthday there for free which she did later on.
via Life in Kuwait
61 replies on “McDonalds Gulf Road has Shut Down”
I think that’s why they were bothered to fix the road in the parking.
Is Kuwait planning to go back to stone age??
And what does the stone age have to do with anything?! *rolls eyes*
It does actually.. Kuwait has erm (excuse me)… HAD very good old places us 90’ers used to spend our childhoods in. Now theres literally almost nothing left.. Despite the fact we see a ton load of Starbuckses and Shake Shacks and whatever Al Shaya has going.. I really dont agree with them closing down those good old memories we had when we were children.. This is sad.. seriously..
But WHY???!!!
That place should be a national monument! It has history! I cannot believe Gulf Road as we know it is slowly fading away, really sad.
It’s just a McDonald’s, not an old palace or something… 😅
TAKE THAT BACK! HOW DARE YOU!
It’s not that deep…
lol
Didnt you know that Mcdonalds and ice-skating rings are Kuwait’s national monuments and heritage sites?
I know .. but still though.. Literally every single place that we lived our childhood in has been demolished/closed.. Which is very annoying because they either replace it with something crap or just leave the place abandoned like Al-Shaab Leisure Park and Entertainment City and Showbiz. This is crazy.. What is there left to demolish in the Gulf Road? Chillis? Friday’s? I heard they’re closing these ones soon too.. I really hate what’s going on in my country.. It’s literally annoying..
That was sudden. They didn’t give anyone time to sulk about the old good times and post one last meal on social media.
Well then I think it’s time to farewell the other places in the Gulf road before they also get demolished.. I heard Alshaya bought the land and he’s planning to replace all our 90’s good old places to his typical/usual Starbucks-Shake Shack-iHop-Canes-etc that we see nearly every corner of almost every area in the country. It’s all money that’s doing this. “Business” of some sort.
Alshaya took that also and you may find shake shack , raising canes there .. so you will not be able to get a meal with 2,5 kd or 1 kd for kids any more . minimum 5 kd per person
Meals at Raising Canes do not cost 5 KD
New Starbucks in Gulf Road in 3…..2……1.
The only thing left for Al Shaya is to take my house and invest in it..
Within the past few months, many restaurants have closed down on gulf road. What’s the reason for all these closers?
All the locations on the Gulf Road were BOT (I think thats the term). Where you basically own the property for an X amount of time and then have to hand it back. In this case it was 25 years. McDonalds, Chili’s, Le Notre all had the chance to re-bid and keep the location but they all lost out to Alshaya who overbid them all.
Good, they can use the location for something perhaps a little bit more classy than the worst fast food chain in the world, I sure hope all the other junk restaurants close on the gulf road, KFC ba6ree8 ect.
KFC closed down already
Agree with you fully. Memories aside, McDonald’s and KFC are the worst kind of foods, especially for children. These are dying businesses in the West because people have figured how horrible they really are.
I think AlShaya has all the gulf road restaurants and will take over for coming years!
maybe it will turn into another Starbucks 😀 “congrats coffee addicts”
but Starbucks coffee is trash lel
Starbucks became an some kind of disposable accessory, where many of their costumers deem holding a cup with a siren in a green circle for a logo would claim them some level of prestige. It’s just pathetic
You are the only correct comment on here. Shitbucks is lowest form of coffee. A true coffee drinker wouldnt touch it.
out of curiosity, what coffee you consider of high quality?
I’m a crazy Starbucks fan I’ll admit that.. But when it comes to removing areas you used to see your childhood in, it upsets me. But theres nothing we can do about it can we.
damn…i was planing to have bfast once there,,,,
i still miss the old souk salmiya stores such as “Family Bookshop”, chicken tikka, waleed store, nintendo store. etc.
Yup they demolished the whole block to build this sci-fi mall and then the company went bankrupt and now its just a huge ugly concrete skeleton building where our childhood memories used to be. The whole street is a disaster, if you guys had voted me as mayor of Salmiya years ago when I had time to run Salmiya it would be a much better place today!
My dad took us that day.
My 2 cents for what it’s worth:
This last Ramadan, me and the Mrs. got sohor twice from there, and just be4 this Ramadan, we checked out the 1st floor for the 1st time ever…
When the weather allowed for it, we like to take walks by the beach and we would usually pass by and play on the swings…
Perhaps the most important memory, was that every Eid for a long time, right after the prayer, we would get breakfast at that specific Mcdonald’s. Seriously, it’s a ritual me & my dad upheld long be4 I got married. We went there this last Eid, and it really saddens me that that was the last time ever. But, my old man will be leaving this country for good be4 the end of year so…all good things come to an end…yea. Good times bruh.
Great story man. But why do you write before “b4” ._. Your entire passage is fine except for that b4. Excuse my tendency on commenting about that.
lol grammar nazi
I don’t see how my observation makes me a grammar nazi ._.” It has nothing to do with grammar ma man
Force of habit I guess
Good news. Hopefully all these american junk food places close down
On a slightly different note is Pizza Italia still open? Would like to eat the godfather again
Nope they’re not, they shut down ages ago but would love to talk to Mahmood Alghanim who I’ve been told was the creator of Pizza Italia and Prego.
I heard it was Marzouq Al Ghanim, suad al humaidhi’s late husband
No it was Mahmoud, Marzouq’s brother
I saw some pretty unsightly things at Prego.
Still, I love that place cause we shot a scene of The Godfather there in Middle School LOL
Only one Word – WHY?
Nothing’s forever I guess..
Hey @Mark I think there’s a news worthy report that hasn’t been posted on here yet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-4mMUV0Y0g
From what I interpreted, when leaving or entering Kuwait you must carry your Civil ID and Passport now as residency stickers are being cancelled. I haven’t done much research, but that’s the short version of it. If you would give a detailed version of it for everyone I guess it would help raise some awareness and spread the word
Yeah I already posted about it when it was announced a month or two ago
Yes it’s called long term lease like those chalets. Like renting but the government owns the property. Now that the lease of 25 years had finished you expect lots of changes. The reason why Al Shaya closed all its restaurants in Arabella to be moved to the seaside. It seems he owns half of Kuwait.
Frankly, good riddance!
It should never have been allowed to open there IN FRONT OF THE CROWN PRINCE’S PALACE (at the time)!
And it just set the stage for other fast food chains to take over prime waterfront property, total eyesores all of them.
I mean if that was my palace I’d WANT McDonalds to open up in front of my place, and Arabica and Avenues. Would make my life super convenient.
It was disrespectful…. not that anyone cared, including the palace residents! :-))
I dont think having Mcdonalds infront of the palace is or was disrespectful.
I mean have you seen the road in front of the palace. NOW THATS DISRESPECTFUL.
If you were a personality to own a palace to begin with, I doubt these would be your demands haha
As a palace owner, I’d see my self still being very down to earth
The vast majority of palace owners tend to be 😉
I waited 3 hours to buy lunch
Good memories
Would it be sacrilege to suggest Big Mac on the Persian Gulf street is making way for Kuwait’s first Kinokuniya book shop?
The only drive through breakfast option I had while driving to work in the morning
THEY HAD CREATE YOUR OWN TASTE
I am definitely will not forget because i was a crew of the first McDonalds Restaurant in Kuwait in June 1994. We made history in the sales for the whole region of Middle East for the opening day. We used to work for at least 15 hours that opening day. I AM PROUD TO BE A MCDONALD’S CREW OF KUWAIT.. Hope it can still be restored and reopen to the public
We should protest in Facebook, Instagram and Youtube to bring back the “Corniche branch” which is the first branch and also “Create Your Own Taste”.