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360 Mall: The good, the Bad and the Ugly

I passed by 360 today and this is what I thought:

The Good
– The interior of the mall is probably the nicest in Kuwait. Looks very fancy with a mixture of wood, marble and carpet.
– Finally there is a proper Nike and Puma store
– Geant Hypermarket is huge
– Toys R Us!
– A lot of new brands launching at the 360
– Food court looks pretty

The Bad
– I would say only 20-30% of the shops and restaurants are open, everything else is still closed
– I was expecting a larger Toys R Us
– I compared one item at Geant which turned out to be more expensive than Carrefour. The WD HD TV player costs KD35 at Geant and KD31 at Carrefour. This of course isn’t an accurate assessment but it still gave me the impression that Carrefour is cheaper.

The Ugly
– Parking or should I say the complete lack of any parking. I was there during the day, the mall wasn’t packed and I couldn’t find parking. Its bad enough the parking isn’t shaded but the fact that there wasn’t enough parking during the middle of the week at 1PM is just ridiculous. I had to park illegally like a lot of people and I was lucky I even found an illegal spot. A friend passed by last night and told me he had to wait in a car jam for 20 minutes around a kilometer away from the mall and in the end he left because the line into 360 wasn’t moving.
– There were nice looking fountains outside but when I got closer they stank of sewage and were murky green and dirty.

65 replies on “360 Mall: The good, the Bad and the Ugly”

Dear Mark,

the store opening percantage is 46% and it will reach more than 50% by the end of July.
As per Alfuttaim study, this is a good size for Kuwait Market.
Geant has a policy to adjust their prices. they are going to match and reduce prices as they go. if there is any items cheaper than Geant you can prove that to them and they will match the price.

All custemers sont know hw to get to the multy story parking. since the opening the shaded car park never got full. people dont know how to get in.

thanks for comming to 360 Mall.

Hey HaaMoor I doubt it is 46% I could practically name the stores that are currently open there because they aren’t many. People probably don’t know how to get into the shaded parking because of the security guards and gatesthat are blocking the path. According to the security guard the shaded parking was still not open and everyone had to park outside.

Its right on the 6th ring road, you will see signs that point you towards the exit. Its located on the intersection of highway 50 and the 6th.

emporia armani has been open in central plaza in salmiya since 2001 i think. Nespresso has also been open in sun city since like 2002 i think.

please Mark would u make a comparison between these two malls:
the Avenues and 360 Mall.
and thanx

Why would you want to compare? They are two different malls, when you get bored of avenues go to 360, when you are bored of 360 go to avenues. No need to choose between the two.

Dear Mark,

there are 59 opened shops out of 132. they shaded parking is open from the openning day which is 5/7/09. but poeple dont know how to get there and just want to park anywher to get it. by the end of this month around 10 more shops will be open.

thanks

I’ve been there twice. Made the mistake of parking out front the first time, and there was no parking. When I left I saw all the empty parking at the Geant hypermart. I went again yesterday, I parked in the back (in front of the Geant), and the parking garage was completely empty.

Geant is the nicest hypermart here, and it’s very well organized. I found some prices lower than Carrefour or Lulu. For example a kilo of shrimp was 1.5 KD, and a jar of imported spaghetti sauce was 590 fils. Good price on the brie. Ridiculous price on the bag of dry dog food, but excellent price for 6 cans of it. I don’t think their fruit and vegetable section is as good as Lulu’s or Carrefour’s. I don’t think Geant has its own branded food items like Carrefour, which often are sold at great prices. Geant joins the crowd in trying to sell obscenely priced imported yoghurt – does anyone one buy it?

Geant sells Panasonic’s 103″ plasma monitor, which looks like crap. And it also has Samsung’s beautiful new LED LCD monitors – I compared prices to those overseas and Geant is a bit too high, but I haven’t seen these monitors elsewhere in Kuwait. And Samsung isn’t discounting yet since no one else is making them.

Much of the staff in the electronics section is hopeless in speaking English- they have some basic answers memorized, but if you deviate from the script you’re going to get nonsense answers. I didn’t converse with any of the staff elsewhere, such as the rice and beans aisle.

I’ll return, and I may even buy an LED LCD monitor, but it won’t be on weekend. You’ll never be able to park.

HaaMooR: I was there today, the shaded parking was closed. The security guard turned me away and told me that the shaded parking was closed. Also if 59 shops are open I must have not seen them because as I posted the vast majority of the stores were closed and under construction.

@ everyone
The shaded parking is definately opened! I parked there myself. The mall does look good but it is just like the avenues “still in progress”.
I agree with Mark Carrefour is cheaper than Geant at the moment. I hope that Mall of Kuwait will be better than both Kuwait 360 and The Avenues.

actually I didn’t have any problem with the parking on the opening day, when you exit the 6Th ring road into the mall area just go all the way straight, don’t turn right, there is a sign with two arrows, one pointing right and the other one pointing straight, just go straight.

What I really liked about 360 that its designed for shoppers and not for gezzeza and I mean the avenues.

@sarah: with the strict rules about books here in kuwait, the only books you will find at the book store are books about cooking.

it was horrible, im sorry, the mall is a somewhat of a luxury clothes mall, high end overpriced stuff that we runn to buy for some reason, while the food court has kfc fridays, aunt aunnies and some other usless point, im hoping they start opening proper cafe’s restaurants, the nike store was pointless they might as well go pack up and leave because there was NOTHING unique or special or any of their products that u can’t ind at al riyathi atheltes foot or foot locker. im hoping that its just because of all the coming soon signs but currently i just get dizzy and lost, hammour might have the official word but u need to get down there and start shaking and moving stuff because mas5ara il salfa. good luck now whens the next mall opening?

very true sara, people rush to buy Juciy Coture and make the anti segregation laws at uni harder to work against yet wouldn’t think twice at an attempt of expanding their knoweldge.

Mark, Nespresso was there but not in an exposed place like this, a mall.

Armani, the one that was out there is a bunch of things together, its mostly armani jeans, then again you have a mix of Giorgio Armani & alot, alot of accessories, emporio how ever is a full line that should stay full with all its accessories.

Armani Exchange for instance is big in ASIA, you wont find anything else than Armani Exchange. Even the CD that plays in their stereo is made specifically for them. I bought a copy hah !

If you like i’ll send you the whole thing 😛

Dear All,

we just openned, just wait and see…we have a full floor full on entertainments. 20 lanes bowling, 4 of them VIP with their cafteria. High tech Arcade and rollar coster inside the mall.

just wait

there are both outdoor and INDOOR parking, but the indoor parking is not free. The indoor parking is really really empty because people didn’t find it, don’t want to pay, or whatever reason. Most importanatly is that there is an indoor parking……wish that you can find it inshalah…..

I did find the indoor parking, it was closed. There was a large gate and security cards blocking the path. No one was allowed to go park indoor.

Mark, about the parking, i was just there today, with some friends, my mom wanted to drop me off at the main entrance. it took us 20 mins to even find the closest entrance!

the parking is too small, and really unorganized, for a place this nice, they shouldve made the effort to build some better organized parking, besides that, great place, grass outside looks really nice

The shaded parking is open – it has been from day one. (the entrance is at the back, next to the weird red bit)
One issue I had was that they are charging 100 fils for the first hour, then 50 fils per hour thereafter. Not really an issue for me personally, but I have twice been made to reverse out of the way because someone has reached the barrier, seen that they have to pay, then decided to reverse out and park illegally elsewhere. One guy was in a new S-Class Mercedes – WTF? Could he not bear the financial strain of a few hundred fils?!!!
p.s. I also have a store in the mall and trade so far has been good, but so many customers are complaining about the parking 🙂

yeah, after i read your post about souq sharq, even though it was like 12:30 yesterday, i told my mom to stop, ran to the grass to check if it was real or not:P

I think its a new mall, just give it a lil more time and it should get itself into place.. The water in the fountains have been cleaned, I checked! And people need to get acquainted to the parking – i still get lost in the avenues parking, LOL! But mark, its open alright..
Overall, I like the place! Good job tamdeen!

About the parking… we tried to go in from the designated entrance… the guard stood in our way and frantically signed to us that No nooo you cannot go in noo…

fa we were stuck in traffic untile we miraculously found a parking by the unfinished moque… we walk by the fountains imagining naughty children who are running and can easly slip and fall in -or clumsy women with high heel like myself… i steered clear of the path- we go inside wella il multi level parking feeh people and not completly occupied!!!!

why then were we steered away?! what if i wanted to go to Geant and buy groceries? which by the way won’t happen any time soon since the only thing good enough to buy there was the150 fils 4 fingers dark kitkat…

ee o tried to have lunch at zahr il laymoon only to be turned away after being seated to a dirty table because they have no food and won’t give us any before 30 minutes…

K5,

the mall is for everyone not just for high-end brand shoppers which is why we have mcdonalds, kfc..etc. In addition to those, we have Wagamama, Shabestan, Sabah wa Masa’ (new concept by Villa Fayrouz) which will open and those are excluding all the higher end cafes and restaurants which will be located everywhere else in the mall.

I think that people are trying to go up the curved ramps to park, thinking that they are being turned away from the shaded parking. The entrance to the “MASSIVE” carpark is round the back.
From where the mosque is, drive clockwise around the mall until you drive under the red bit at the back. Then turn right and you’ll see 3 entrance barriers side-by-side.
There are no guards, just auto-barriers that dispense a ticket when you enter.
Just trying to clarify as I think people are going the wrong way. The parking has been less than 50% full, whilst the outside parking was overflowing.

Lack of signs too.
Another issue I can see is that the car parks have no speed bumps anywhere to slow people down. How long until someone gets hit by a speeding Nissan Altima/Maxima?!

Reading these comments you can only come to the following conclusion:

1. It opened too early.

2. Signage is a problem (clearly) as you shouldn’t have to know a secret handshake or a map just to find parking (WTF?)

BUT — LCD SAMSUNG MONITORS?! OMGWTFBBQ. I’m going to park on top of someone too see what sizes and prices.

Hello Ryuuzaki,

I have checked Toys R Us. I definately have complains on their Prices. Shop is Dark. The way the things r displayed is very confusing.

I think i would still Preffer the Biggest toy store of kuwait as my first option.

ithink it will look nice like all tamdeen malls but poor mangement they foucas on looks and forget about details; plus they take things personal not real busines mentality; i.e blocking alshay3 group and sultan center group wasabi and other rest. avenues more well planed and organized

fall – I disagree. I think that blocking Alshaya shows very shrewd business mentality. If this mall was full of Alshaya brands, each store would be smaller in size than the ones at Avenues. Therefore – after the initial excitement of the opening – everyone would go back to Avenues to the large outlets. (Why shop at Top Shop or H&M in 360 if it doesn’t have the full range of products?)
By not allowing them in and instead allowing new brands to open, they have provided a real alternative.

Brilliant idea to block Shaya.

look at the avenues mess.

8 starbucks in a short distance? what kind of stupid planning is that?

they killed the chance for anyone else to open.

GUYS!!! The Bowl Room opens July 29th !!! COME AND BOWL;D by the way, amazing bowling center it is…

Although it’s laughable that u find a starbux at every stone’s throw in the Avenues…

When i was done having lunch at 360 for one fleeting moment i longed for a cup of Starbux Caramel Macciato, then remembered with a startle that it’s impossible to get one there…

i felt a bit lonely!!!

Can’t they just make an exception for Strarbux? Ok i get that the retail shops are every where even in ur local Co-Op and no need to open in the 360 since they won’t add much to the shopping value..

But Starbux is a whole different story!!! U cannot simply erase it from ur urban mall life… it feels wrong….

o the thing is… i don’t even like starbux that much…! I believe both Costa and Casper & Gabminis serve better coffee and my beloved nespresso is also there…

but i do really miss it with a bang!

By the way… got the best ignorance possible from the salespersons at Nespresso… stood with my husband for half an hour waiting for attention o all they were doing was running around o tending to some customer at the coffee drinking thingy!!!

Hello Ryuuzaki,

The biggest toy store in kuwait is none other than Fantasy World. I dont disagree with the fact that Baroue is bigger in size. But if you compare with the variety and convenience…. there is no toy store in kuwait which can near Fantasy World.

This is my personal experience…

Dear Mark!
Does Toys R Us have a nice Action figure selection and a plastic modeling section?

Cheers, A.

They have some action figures, like transformers, speed racer, star wars and some other stuff i haven’t heard of before.
no plastic modeling section. if you want plastic modeling you need to check My Toy for their tamiya’s. mytoyco.com

Finally a Full NIKE store…..i think da interior of da mall is dull……not very happening n lively like marina !!!!!….big r small….MARINA is da best mall in kuwait(by my prospective)…

Again, these are early days still. There will be teething problems some more. Btw, have they rolled out valet parking facility, personal shoppers and mall nanny service or not yet?

Toys r us having a huge section of Pirates of the carribean , Action man , Star wars and all. But all out of fashion. They have a big wall of ben 10 just with one single item. some how the store is full with something.
but weather it is exciting or not is debatable.

For your information, 2 of the 3 entertainment zones will be opening on July 29th: The Bowl Room & The Freeze Club. It is different from Magic Planet and one of our strrenght is that we communicate and interact with our customers, engage them with the latest & modern technology. Wait and see!!!

The 360 more or less looks like a fashion designers office, common, i expected more, it does not live up to its name, oh yes only the parking, i had to drive around to park and again around to get out to the main road.

My first Q is: Why would you open a mall when you don’t even have enough shops/outlets ready yet?

My two bit:
– The cinemas are all right – comfortable seating as in Avenues.
– The food court set-up sucks – can’t even make out what joints are available till you have a walked the whole distance.
– The toilets are horrible – you’d be better off having emptied your bladder elsewhere. Comparable to public toilets on the road.
– Last but not the least – The Parking. Although I was able to get a legal parking outside of Geant, getting in and getting out was a nightmare! And that too on a regular day (Monday).

Have already scared friends and co-workers from visiting 360 unless they plan to park outside the parking zone.

Mark,
The puma store was sooooo small and pathetic….. I was really dissapointed and the parking was terrible! Leaving the place was a nightmare.. The traffic going in and out uses the same winding road which congest things badly…. I will limit my trips to that place to morning visits if I decide to go back…. I actually went there to see if they were going to get Ice Age 3-D for their Imax theater and no one seemed to know anything… Spoke to the manager and he doubted they would get it… The place dissapointed me on so many levels…

The mall opened prematurely. It should have atleast opened 70% of the stores, brand-wise. Also the timing during the summer will only attract the wrong crowd, which are infesting the rest of the country. The parking issue will only be alleviated when everyone goes back to work & school and to have proper SIGNAGE.

My main concern is the COACH store.. i’m really hoping they don’t do like everywhere else and just slap a KD over the USD on the pricetags..

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