Yesterday I uploaded some old photos of Family Bookshop to Flickr which I had taken back in 2011 before they closed down. I had always assumed that the Salmiya location of Family Bookshop was the first and only branch but turns out that wasn’t the case,
The Family Bookshop started off as bible shops around the region by the Danish Missionary Society with the one in Kuwait opening up in 1910. But in the 60s, as part of their literature mission they decided to build a new concept called the Family Bookshop Group (FBG) with the following objectives:
- To print the Gospel
- Encourage dialogue between Muslims and Christians
- Provide all Christian churches in the region with literature and auxiliary materials, provide society with quality literature and other books primarily in Arabic and English
- Seek the best possible cooperation with various Christian churches
- Develop a self-supporting organization by efficient leadership
- Offer education and encourage Arab Christians to become booksellers
- Develop cooperation between the bookshops and coordinate a future development
From what I could gather there were two Family Bookshops in Kuwait. One at the American Mission Hospital (now the Amricani Culture Center) which opened in 1969 and pictured at the very top of this post. Then there was a second branch located in Salmiya which also opened up in 1969 (pictured above).
I think it was Salmiya because in the photo above taken outside their 1969 location, the building in the background on the far right of the photo looks like the building in Salmiya which the Family Bookshop we know was located in. I believe the building they were in got demolished so they moved to the location across the street in 1971 (pictured below).
The Salmiya Family Bookshop which most of us know eventually closed down in February 2013 when they were evicted from their premises and the building demolished.
The store manager at that time who you might recognize if you were a regular was Jaswinder Singh. He joined Family Bookshop in 1979 as a part time accountant before eventually become the manager. He’s now retired and back in India, but his daughter runs the bookstore @little_bees_books
I managed to find a bunch of incredible photos of the Family Bookshop in Kuwait in the 60s on the University of Southern California library website. I’ve uploaded them all to Flickr and you can view them here.
Also if you want to check out photos of Family Bookshop Salmiya before they closed down, click here.
Update: This post was updated with more information and the closing down date was adjusted from 2012 to 2013.
30 replies on “The Family Bookshop Story”
Great find! Also, I was wondering if you have any photos or info of Al Manara Bookshop in Salmiya?
Pinot took some back in 2008, I can check and see if he still has the originals
http://pinodita.blogspot.com/2008/04/shopaventure-al-manara-bookshop.html
Hi Ahmed, I have very fond memories of Al Manara Bookshop. That’s where I got most of my novels and film magazines growing up.
The only info I have on the place is that the owner was Lebanese and his wife was Indian and they had a very sweet daughter.
I wish I stayed in touch with them but the bookshop closed down sometime in the late 2000s when I was in college in the States.
Are they on Facebook? I’d want to get in touch with them and see if they have any photos
How I loved to go the the Family Bookshop !! Amazing collections though pricey I would pick books for my girls.
From what I remember, the place closed down in the early 2010’s, and it was replaced with an antique shop of all things, and it even still had some of its original furnishings like signage for the newspaper/magazine section. Then it became some kind of office space, and then the whole building was torn down. I always remembered seeing a flight of stairs going up, what exactly was upstairs?
In the 80s Aramex used to be upstairs, corner office at the end closer to the main road. Before Shop&Ship we used to order stuff from the States with Aramex using mail order catalogs like the Sears, JC Penny, Lands’ End etc.. that was where we could get the catalogs from and place the orders. We would then wait like 3-6 months I think to get the stuff. Their office was still there in the 90s.
I remember that, but I was talking about the stairs in the bookshop itself, because I never saw what was up those stairs.
ohhh those stairs, no idea sorry
Do I see pavements in those photos?
That pavement stayed until around the mid 80s. The street was then refurbished and they were swapped with different ones that had a motif and came in two shades, a grey similar to in the photo and a darker grey. There is still some remaining till this day.
Family Bookshop = Biblical Biblotheque ?
Great post! My house was a 3 minute walk. My father had a couple of shops in that strip. I used to love going into the Family bookshop. Had a very distinct smell and always quite. I was quite young so never really bought anything of value there, My money was spent at Waleed toys and Hardees hotdogs and cookies.
We used to play hide and seek all over that area, like the full area. And we’d still find each other.
Good times.
what shops??
Funny Girl.
Women clothing.
oh I remember Funny Girl! Does he have any old photos of Salmiya??
Definitely , let me ask him / mom to dig some up.
Funny Girl was next to Pavan right? Or was it across the street right next to Alamiah? I’ve been wanting to draw a map of Salem Mubarak and plot all the locations of all the old stores. I’ve wanted to challenge myself and I think this could be fun. Starting at Mercedes and ending at either Boushahri and Technics or ending at Al Salam Building.
Ok place need to Alamaiah was Bambino
ok turns out are fathers know each other
Funny Girl gave a sense of character to Salem Mubarak street. Boy, was it the Champs Elysees of Kuwait or what ? More than any other thing I miss about the old Kuwait(pre-invasion) I lament the demise of Salem Mubarak street the most.
I’ve been living on Salem Mubarak for 40 years now, first 12 were in the building that had Mercedes (apartment over A&W) until the invasion and then after invasion moved into the building across the street which had Souk II Soul and I’ve been there ever since. So imagine the attachment I have and how I feel about it having seen it back in it’s prime…
Please go ahead and draw up a map of the old Salmieh with stores and all, Mark.
Will be wonderful to remember all those elegant stores we had right from Mobilia House, Al Ritaj and Nibras to Moutassem Gifts & Novelties to Wazzan Cafe & Le Patisserie
Even now when I think of it some of those stores: Al Amal Fashions, Wajeh, Mansourein, Pavane, Moustache, Le Paysage, Concord, Silver City, Tiffany & Tomatoes among others exuded way more panache and gloss than most stores you find in the Avenues or 360. It was something else altogether.
Did you know there was a pizza place before La Patisserie and before the pizza place there was Beefy? Silver City still here btw!
Oh.. I never knew that Kuwait also was included in the missionary campaigns plans.
I now realize we may well have been neighbors for a little bit. For a few short years before the invasion we used to live at the bottom of the street from where the Technics building stood- I think we were staying right above the Versailles & Le Paysage stores. Not exactly much of a view there considering a bird’s eye view of Carrera optics wasn’t much of a view. After the invasion we moved across the street to Al Anjary complex where the view got better even as the times got boring 😉
And yes, I vaguely remember there being a certain butcher shop in place of La Patisserie. The pizzeria, I have no recollection of. Then there were others such as, the Dairy Queen, Boston Bay Cookies & New England Ice cream which were sort of ‘blink and you missed them’ – on very short innings, indeed. Do you remember any of them ?
It’s sad to note this area has now slipped into derelict decay so much so that it won’t even attract juvenile delinquents.
Wait we basically lived in the exact same buildings. If you lived above Versailles that’s the same building as Mercedes, which is the same building I lived in before the Gulf War except I was above A&W.
There was Khazan butcher shop down the street from us sometime in the early 80s.
And if you also moved across the street to Anjari then our parents must have know each other. Which apartment were you? After the invasion we were 405.
Also I remember Boston Bay Cookies, it was part of Hungry Bunny. Dairy Queen then became Jashanmall.
I used to live on top of the last photos, so many memories, Thank you!
Thank you for these photos, & for bringing back all those memories. I grew up in Kuwait from pre-invasion to 2001 (moved to Canada). I loved going to the Family Bookshop & I vividly remember Mr Singh, the Manager. My Mum used to get me quite a few children’s books & some academic posters from there. What a time! It was thing we did every Friday evening – get some new books from FB, go to Sana or Jawhra and then dinner at either the Hungry Bunny or the Pizza Hut (loved their Salad Bar)!