Leica is opening a store in Kuwait at 360 Mall. Boushahri Group used to be the dealers in Kuwait back when they were selling 35mm cameras. I remember always wanting the Leica Minilux point and shoot and later the CM, but they were too expensive. When Boushahri closed their main store on Salem Mubarak they continued to sell Leica at their smaller store on Baghdad Street before eventually shutting down.
Leica is now no longer with Boushahri Group and instead with the Qatari luxury group Ali Bin Ali.
6 replies on “Leica Store Opening in Kuwait”
Nice! I wish we had a Hasselblad store here :(. And the Fujifilm in Boulevard don’t even have their latest Medium format cameras on display.
I’ll give them 2 years till they close again. People here dont want to spend money and those that do would rather import their own stuff for cheaper.
It’s like the brand Miele. They keep shutting and reopening with a new exclusive dealer. Every dealer has the same pricing strategy, 50-100% more than the uk retail price with vat included. I imported our appliances for less than Bosch (cheaper brand) prices their outdated shit.
Well you can’t compare Bosch to Miele thats for sure but secondly, anyone who is buying Miele isn’t really looking for a deal. With Leica I don’t know how many people in Kuwait would be willing to pay that much for a camera but I also don’t know how many cameras they need to sell a month to break even, if its just 3 I can imagine them surviving plus their Leica instax and point and shoot cameras probably bring in more money.
I wasn’t comparing the products but rather the prices, I bought Miele and still wanted to save money. I went out of my way to keep +4k price difference for myself rather than a merchant, you genuinely underestimate the stinginess of people.
360 commands a premium rent but the shop doesn’t look large. If it doesn’t work out in 360, it will never work in Kuwait. 360 is very popular, good reputation, small enough for people to happily circle (except basement levels). Avenues is too big, people will easily miss your store, Assima has too many floors and is a harassment hotspot.
By comparing the prices you’re naturally comparing the products which in this case isn’t fair. Yes Bosch is much cheaper than Miele, but thats because it’s a Bosch. It’s like comparing a Bosch fridge to a Subzero, yes Subzero is going to be 6 times more expensive but why would you compare the price of a Subzero fridge with a Bosch fridge.
I don’t think a Leica store would work in 360 or Avenues because I don’t think camera stores in general can survive in a tiny market like Kuwait. I barely use my cameras and it’s part of my job so imagine normal people. I have four great cameras (ignoring all my other cameras) and like everyone else I use my phone the most.
You will be amazed how much Kuwaiti’s spend on camera and camera gears.