Search: “kuwait”

Basic Beach is a cool new and local sustainable brand with designs inspired and influenced by the oceans and its creatures. All their waterwear is made out of recycled material while their packaging is made of plants that decompose after a short period of time and can be used as compost.

Their first collection includes rashguards, swim shorts, surfsuits and fun t-shirts designed by local Kuwaiti artist @notnorrah. Their stuff isn’t too crazy expensive so if you want to shop their collection, they’re on Instagram @shop.basicbeach and their website is basic-beach.com

Yesterday Monoprix finally opened in Assima Mall so I passed by briefly today to check it out and wow. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but definitely not what I saw. Monoprix is easily the nicest looking supermarket in Kuwait right now. Like completely blows everything else out of the water.

Everything from the veggies section to the fish section looks incredible and its definitely going to be my new goto supermarket.

They have a shop and go service as well where you can shop for groceries and then have them deliver it to you later. While browsing the shelves I found a lot of brands I hadn’t seen anywhere else so it’s not just the same products in a nicer environment.

On the other hand, there aren’t any self check out stations which sucks. If you want to pass by check it out, they’re open daily from 9AM till midnight.

One of the biggest complaints about the National Library is that it is only open during the day and only on weekdays when everyone is at work. But, starting this Tuesday, June 14th, the National Library will now open in the evenings from 4PM to 9PM, but only on Tuesdays.

I love the library so I hope this new influx of traffic won’t be an issue. There are a lot of important books and archives there with very little monitoring by staff or security. I’ve spent so much time there alone flipping through books and newspapers without seeing anyone so I’m personally worried some people will take advantage and steal books or rip pages out of the newspapers.

If you didn’t know about the library or want to know what’s there, check out my previous post here.

Best Electronics carry a few high-end sound systems but they’re only located in their flagship store in Shuwaikh. I’ve previously brushed on this briefly during my home sound system upgrade post but decided it was worth highlighting again since BEST recently moved their Shuwaikh store to a newer location and in the process, expanded their sound system section.

Here are some of the brands they carry at this one specific location:

Anthem
Denon
Definitive Technology
Earthquake Sound
Gallo Acoustics
Paradigm
Technics

You won’t find these items on their website or in any of their other locations. The new BEST store is located right next to their old location and is huge. The premium sound system section is located in the back corner on the ground floor and they even have a small theater room in which they demonstrate different screen projectors and speakers.

If you want to check any of the brands above out, here is the location of this store on Google Maps.

Back on June 6th, 2016 Entertainment City was closed down for renovations. It was meant to reopen again in 2021 but instead, in 2020 it was completely demolished. Yesterday marked the 6-year anniversary of its closing.

Entertainment City became another landmark in Kuwait to get demolished and joined a long list of other important places that were demolished in recent years including:

Shaab Park
Bait Lothan
Kuwait Airways Building
Al-Sawaber
Aqua Park
Ice Skating Rink
The Original Chamber of Commerce

It’s really sad.

The cultural season “Summer of Kuwait 2022” has started at JACC and so far they’ve released the list of events for June which are:

Aden Nights with Khaled Al-Mulla and Abdel Moneim Al-Ameri
June 10

Gipsy Kings – The soul of Spain in Kuwait
June 16, 17

Turkish Delights with Bassam Al-Bloushi
June 20

Ministry of Science Live
June 23, 24, 25

As of this post, only tickets to Aden Nights and Gipsy Kings are on sale and you can book those on their website jacc-kw.com

I’m guessing everyone felt this morning’s earthquake since, unlike the previous ones that have hit Kuwait before, this one was fairly strong.

An earthquake of magnitude 5 struck Kuwait, the ministry of information tweeted on Saturday.

The ministry said “the Kuwait National Seismic Network recorded an earthquake measuring 5 … southwest of al-Ahmadi, and it occurred at exactly 04:28:02 a.m. Kuwait time (0128 GMT), at a depth of 5 km (3 miles)”.

The Kuwait’s Fire Force also said that there was no damage as a result of the earthquake. Source

According to some sources online, the earthquake measured a magnitude of 4.4 but according to the Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research (KISR) it was actually a 5.

If you like the opera or want to experience the opera, the Italian Embassy in Kuwait is hosting one tomorrow night (Thursday) at JACC. “Bel Canto d’Italia Recital” is taking place at 7PM and no tickets are required. For more details, click here

If you’re on the highway right now you might be noticing a large plume of black smoke in the distance. Turns out tent city which is located next to Friday Market in Al Rai caught fire.

@kuwaitnews has some more footage here and @alqabas are also posting updates.

The Avenues mall opened in Kuwait back in April 2007, 15 years ago! I was looking back through my old posts and I think IKEA actually opened there at the end of 2006, before the rest of the mall was open since I posted about my first visit to it.

Over the years Avenues kept expanding and growing to become one of the coolest malls in the region and even the world. It’s one of my favorite places in Kuwait.

Tim Hortons, the popular Canadian coffee chain is making a comeback in Kuwait after closing down all its locations a few years ago. They’re now coming back to the market with at least two new locations, one in Bida’a next to Melenzane and a second in Kuwait City next to Muthana Complex.

The UAE company Apparel Group is the master franchisee of the Tim Hortons brand in the Middle East. They also have a number of other brands including Tommy Hilfiger, Aldo, Jamie’s Italian, Cold Stone Creamery, and Rituals.

Thanks Basel

Back in February, a Kuwaiti lawyer filed a lawsuit against the MOC demanding the blocking of Netflix due to the Arabic movie Perfect Strangers. The lawyer believes the movie goes against local religious and moral values and so wants Netflix banned in Kuwait. Well, the first day of the hearing is today.

I highly doubt Netflix will get banned but you never know here. Good luck Kuwait!

If you’re looking for something to do tonight check out the Hoop Dreams exhibition opening at Sadu House:

Hoop Dreams is an exhibition showcasing basketball hoops as creative installations that integrate elements of basketball with art. Concepts for these hoops include local patterns of Sadu as well as traditional fishing nets and pearl colored basketballs that represent Kuwaiti culture.

The exhibition opens tonight at 7PM and will be running until May 27. For more information check out the Sadu House Instagram account @saduhouse

The 3rd GCC Games started yesterday and the dust storm didn’t stop them. You can check out some pictures from yesterday’s events on the @kuwaitolympic twitter account. Currently, Bahrain is leading the games with 6 gold medals while Kuwait is in fifth place with 2.

The games are being broadcasted on KTV3 so if you can’t attend the games you can still watch it on TV or online via the MOI website. If you want to stream the games online, click here.

The Contemporary Art Platform is opening four different exhibitions tonight featuring:

I Am Here – Manuella Guiragossian
My Name Is Woman – Maha AlAsaker
Deconstructed Phyche – Sheikha Al Habishi
DIVA! – Organized by the Italian Embassy

The opening is at 7:00PM and is free to attend. Here is the location on Google Maps