Ever since I started this blog I’ve been searching and requesting photos of Kids ‘r’ us and I haven’t really had much luck until today. Awhile ago I received two really hi-res photos of Kids ‘r’ us Farwaniya taken right after the Gulf War. I thought I would be happy to finally get some pictures but looking at them actually depresses me. It really sucks how it got destroyed and it sucks even more that until today we don’t have a toy store that’s as big or as cool as Kids ‘r’ us was. Actually what also sucks is that we don’t have any pictures to show people how cool of a place it was!
Pictures were taken by Adel Al-Yousifi and a big thanks to Abdulaziz for sending me them. You can view larger versions of the pictures above by clicking the links below:
26 replies on “Kids ‘r’ us – 1991”
That Place was a dream land for me. I still remember how it smelled ,, plastic heaven lol
Best place ever! I remember it like a hypermarket for toys (a bit of an oxymoron). Aisles and aisles filled with awesome toys and trolleys just like you have at the hypermarkets. My dad pretty much let me buy all my toys from there as a kid.
They also had a smaller branch right where XCite is in the old Salmiya market (the market that they are sadly tearing down). That one wasn’t as huge but was good for quick visits.
yup, that location was originally alghanim automotive and then became Kids ‘r’ us and then became alghanim electronics.
That small kids ‘r’ us was 3 floors, the basement i remember had the plastic models. there was always a huge barbie display in the window as well. strangely I don’t remember too many details even though it opened after the gulf war, was right next to my house AND I was around 14 years old then! My memory just really sucks.
actually i think it became Philips first and then Alghanim electronics? Not sure. In any case it was always for Alghanim.
Actually looks like the Salmiya location was open before the Gulf War as well. If you watch this cheesy kids r us commercial you can see both branches in the end frame
https://youtu.be/VfM88RGkZKs
I love those cheesy commercials from the 80s!
If i want to share some of my experiences related to kuwait how cn i share on this blog?
well you can’t really since it would be kinda weird to share your experiences on my personal blog lol
I remember its smell. I remember the price tags on the toys that were neon orange. I remember the uncatalogued they used to send out before Eid and we would pour over them thinking what to choose when we get our Eidiyas. I wonder how is it possible to have such a distinctive toy store in the 80’s then 30 years later we can’t even get a decent toy shop that compensates for a fraction of the void left by Kid’s r us!
I think its time someone invents a camera that takes photographs of memories in your brain 🙁
I guess kids are more into video games and ipads which killed a good percentage of the market share of toys
Hey you have got to add a like button to your topics .. i would love to super like this topic .. the only think that i ever wanted when i was a kid was to work and live in kids r us … i literally envied their employees .. mE
whats the difference between like and share?
Like is a personal preference whereas sharing it would be something you think others might be interested in.
Kids ‘r’ us was the coolest place ever! that and AlAlamiah’s 2nd floor of course.
Dude that really brought back some memories, that was one of my favorite places on the planet for the first decade of my life 🙁
Kids r us and Safeway !!! Both were one of my fav places !!
Birthday’s or Christmas for us kids wasn’t complete without a big plastic bag with that koala on it!! 🙂
Phillips and daweeo electronics 😛
when we were kids it used to look huge i bet if it was there now it would look much smaller
btw toys r us is quite big in 360 mall
toys r us is NOT quite big
Oh man, this nearly brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for posting.
People think I’m crazy when I talk about the big yellow koala bear!! I miss it:( Was it just in Kuwait? It’s sad kids don’t have toys like we used to; kid’s toys today suck.
I miss that place so much. So many destroyed memories in Kuwait, it’s just piled up over the years to leave a really unpleasant feeling in ur gut and in the back of ur mind 🙁 Lost forever.
🙁 e wala kan dream land kan waayed keber o feh al3aab wayeeed kent a7es ro7i b7elm 🙁 7asafa 3ala hathek elayam
Good ole days!
my name is khaled alqutub
am one on 30 kids r us founders, we were the first to start up the setting and the foundation of kids r us in Kuwait back in 1983
khales alqutub, younis nassar, riyadh shahin, mohmad hilmi, khalil abu kabeer, haifa, majed al jamal, subhi, maher, thabit, naseem, haifa, lina sukkar, khales yamani,
nuha shbita, amal haddad, rawi, jarrar, and many many more am sorry i forgot some names its been too long now its like 30+ years
we started in Farwaniya later we launched the salmiya outlet branch
it was a hell of experience and memories
thanx for everyone shared us that sweet moments