Hunting for Rare Books in Sulaibiya

I found out about Nawaf (@bo7mood58) through a friend of mine a few years ago. Nawaf has a warehouse filled with boxes of old books and magazines which he’s acquired over the years from various sources and he sells them on his instagram account. But, a few of times a year, Nawaf also opens up his warehouse for people to visit in person.

This year, Nawaf is opening his warehouse daily for the whole month of February.

I’ve been to a few of those open days over the years and I’ve always left with lots of great books. It’s a very chill atmosphere, the books are laid out on the floor and you just sift through them one by one. Once the piles start to decrease, Nawaf brings out another box of books, so every time you visit you’ll find a different bunch of books. You can also find old newspapers, and every now and then, boxes of VHS tapes or records.

Majority of the stuff is in Arabic, but there are plenty of old English books and magazines as well.

The hospitality is great, Nawaf usually has a box of disposable gloves for you to wear (highly recommended since most of the books are dusty), as well as water and sweets. He’s really nice and friendly, and he doesn’t try and price gouge you or anything either.

Here is a pro tip, once you get there, put on disposable gloves, grab an empty carton and a stool if one is free, and move them around with you from pile to pile as you search for books. When you find an item you like, put it in your empty carton. Once you’re done searching for the day, take your carton to Nawaf and he’ll price the items for you. You can pay by cash or payment link.

If you want to visit the warehouse, it’s going to be open daily in February from 4PM to 10PM. Location of the warehouse is in Sulaibiya, Block 6, for the exact Google Maps location, here is the link.