The Al Salasil bookstore is now open at The Avenues. I was expecting the bookstore to be huge since according to their teaser it was going to be the biggest bookstore in Kuwait but from what I saw it didn’t look like it. I guess I was expecting us to finally get a bookstore as big as Kinokuniya in Dubai. Anyway you can pass by and check it out yourself, they’re located in phase 2 of The Avenues right next to Soccer Scene.
Update: Danderma just posted a review with pictures [Here]
Update2: 965 Malls have some more pictures as well [Here]
52 replies on “Al Salasil Bookstore now open”
well what do you expect from a bookstore in Kuwait? can’t be great due to the extreme censorship in this country.
I just hope they have my magazines 😛
Do they have slime???
Not just censorship. There are very few readers in Kuwait. How do often do you see people reading in public anything other than the newspaper?
I was going to tell you off, then I remembered all the weird looks I get when people notice I’ve been reading a book for the past hour…
It Doesn’t matter how big the bookstore is , we all know that kuwait will NEVER have a decent book store since all your import will get checked by BO ALI and OM KHALID at the MOI !
I have a list of architect books am going to get from Kinokuniya next week when am in dubai .
You guys make it sound like all the books contain porn.
Well at the right angle anything looks like porn
people see what they want i guess 🙂
thats why placebos are used in experiments heheh 🙂
well if you check the way they butcher magazines you’d think they were censoring porn. On of the editions of Muscle and Fitness that I bought some years ago were completely drawn over with black markers. The ink even seeped thru the pages 🙁
No, but I remember the book “Of Mice and Men” being banned while I was at school because some parents complained. The most sexual thing in the book is a mentally disabled man touching a woman’s hair. The rules are arbitrary and all someone has to do is decide the content is questionable to get it yanked.
Its not about censorship, thats not an excuse.
A lot of great books get imported into Kuwait, but you can never find them all in one place, you have to go fishing around all the different bookstores.
I have just returned from the Avenues and i had a good time browsing the shelves of That Al Salasil
OK so it’s definitely not the biggest book store in Q8 but it’s a big book store in a mall… i could pass by and check the latest titles and grab some then go get a coffee or a snack and read in peace and quite…
I didn’t expect much in terms of book contents due to our insane censorship restrictions but then i did find some books to buy… i just hope they will get better and newer books every so often… they need to add a few new things as well and maybe they’ll get more books and newer books as time goes by
I’ve just reviewed it here https://www.danderma.co/?p=8550
Just get e-readers and don’t be a slave to the censors.
What some readers missed is that this bookshop has several branches scattered allover Kuwait & most of the books sold are actually books published by That Al-Salasil. It’s one of the best publishers in Kuwait when it comes to the history of Kuwait, the culture of Kuwait, & politics, which is similar to Al-Rbai3an/Dar Al-3orooba bookshops in Hawali.
Regarding magazines/novels/ biographies, they can All be found in The Kuwait Bookshop in Al-Muthana. Yes! Sensitive sencorship sucks, but it has nothing to do with the content of That Al-Salasil. Thanks!
Exactly. For those of us interested in local publications, there’s really no better place than That es-Salasil. They have a great selection of local history books.
Why is everyone blaming censorship for the lack of quality books? What are you guys reading?
+1
I tend to read books concerning anatomy, philosophy, photography and political dissentient. Or I used to since the market dried up…
Thank God for the Interwebs!
lol good point … lots of focus on a +18 area…
their are other topics i guess
No one but expats will be inside this bookstore…
That’s ridiculous and insulting.
i admire the owners for opening this big store in this location because it must be a risk (business wise). good luck and thank u for bringing some thing new to us. its a geat step in the right direction. i hate how people in Kuwait always put down the positive efforts of others. lets enjoy it
+1
No one is putting down anything.
We were just hoping for one kind of bookstore, and this turned out to be like any other bookstore. No one really said anything negative about them,
BTW are you Lebanese?
do they have tintin and asterix?
I got 25,000 books in from the USA in a container and have many a story to tell of the experience. Did you know Kuwait has an incinerator at the MOI? The English ‘book checker’ and I had many a cup of tea in her office, nice lady. When they cut into my first gaylord on the container, masses of children’s books fell out….and the container was cleared – sigh.
betterbooks – budget prices – daily 10-8 – still waiting on mark and nat
I saw the shop on friday, I must say I was very disapointed with it. I had my hope up for ones someone would bring some life to kuwait’s many ygly book stores.
I most say you failed BIG time, the design is wrong the atmosphere is dead.
Please visit Dubai airport book corner for first inspiration, if you need more I can send you images from some Norvegian book stores. Worth a visit.
Queastion did you have a designer for the store? If so who?
Anyone have more details on kuwaits censorships rules on Books? Instead of blaming censorship can someone give us any details please.
Kuwait is the only country i never never saw a kuwaiti reading a book in public, strange!!!
my masters thesis was on censorship in schools
email me for the link
there’s a banned book list for school but the same books can be bought in a store – go figure!
Kuwait Bookshop is still King!
it looks very old fashioned…..very ” 1970s university library-ish”
I agree with you TweeZ, 100%. Kuwait Bookshop is the best.
Kuwait Bookshop (Al-Muthana complex) is still the best place to go.. As an expat living in Kuwait, it’s the only ‘real’ bookshop we’ve found here.
Although old, it still has that special feel/scent to it.. and the choice of books (educational, medical, autobiographies, etc.) is absolutely wonderful.
Definitely the place to go.
What I like about the Kuwait Bookshop is that you can find some hidden treasures there. I’ve found a lot of cool books (mostly old ones) just by spending time exploring all the bookshelves and stacks of books.
I love that bookshop as well, but the location and the place itself is creepy and dusty, you can feel its old. We really need something fresh and up to date!
Very true.
The staff is also very well-informed and always seem to know exactly where every single book is kept.
I hope they sell good books!
What a pathetic excuse for a bookshop. Any Magrudys or indeed the Kinokuniya are what Kuwait deserves. Regulatory controls also need to change with the times. Virgin was the only decent store until was forced to painfully size down.
Borders filed for bankruptcy because they failed to switch to online effectively and the poor idiots open a store here.
I guess you guys never heard of Jarir Bookstore (yes, that’s the actual name). It a franchise from Saudi I think – haven’t seen them anywhere else, and it is a very large bookstore.
They are in Hawally Park (opposite the co-op where NBK is). They have typical “Kuwaiti” pricing on books (read: expensive), but they do offer a place to sit and read books and have a very large collection. You can find books on Kuwait, Cooking, Business, IT/Computers, Children’s books and of course magazines as well.
Best part, its not designed to look like a bookstore as they also carry IT equipment, office supplies, art supplies. Everything from printers to easels.
Unfortunately, the location in Kuwait is the smallest I’ve seen – they were supposed to open a new, much bigger store on Jahra Road but that project got stalled.
So, there is more than one option – but still nothing matching the scale of Kinokuniya or B&N or Borders.
I’ll pass by the store in Avenues today to see if anything catches my eye. These days I just read stuff on my ipad.
Forget that. I’d really love to meet the guy in charge of choosing the book imports at Salasil. I have this huge desire to punch him in the brain! Most of the crap on the shelves are either soppy teen b tripe or it’s some chick lit.
The barnes and noble here in the US is effing great. Why won’t one of this richie richies buy the right to open one here?
yesssssssss finally…thanks mark i was seriously wondering when they’re gonna open
That’s too little too late. I was fed up with the state of bookstores in Kuwait, and got myself the great Kindle. Now I can get any book that I want in seconds.
Let me say this, Al Salasil bookstore is a failure whether it was in the Airport, Marina, or the Avenues. I knew its going to be a disappointment, yet again Kuwait will never ever have a descent bookstore. This was just pure waste of space !
Ahmed you reminded me, I took this picture in 2009 of the bookstore at the airport. As you can see, its extremely up to date.
https://bit.ly/hpqGNL
Love to see borders in kuwait
I know Im late on this but why is everyone so stuck on seeing people read in public?
I read. I read a lot! I love crime novels mostly and thrillers and then I also read classics. But I honestly don’t think Ive ever pulled out one of my books when Ive been in a coffee shop or at the mall. That doesn’t mean I dont read.
And Im sure a lot of the Kuwaitis read when they’re at home, or on a plane, or by the pool.
Just cause you don’t see the person with a book in hand doesn’t mean they don’t read ever.
I actually get really annoyed when I walk into a starbucks and there are no seats because some person bought a coffee 4 hours ago and is now just sitting there reading a book. Go home and read your book, and give me that seat for 15min.
Also Im pretty sure I just saw Danielle Steel books… Arent those graphic romance novels? Clearly they werent censored.