360 Kuwait
I’ve got a friend who is planning to open up a place at the new 360 Kuwait mall and he told me something that sounds very promising. What he was told by the owners of the mall is that they don’t want any brand or shop in the mall if it is already open somewhere else in Kuwait and supposedly the only Alshaya store will be Starbucks. If thats true it might make the mall pretty cool.
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Jan 20, 2008
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32 Comments, add your own...
1. ok | January 20th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
pretty cool or mohallab like?
2. Haloola | January 20th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
i found it pretty cool i hope it shoud be
3. 3azeez | January 20th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
360 Kuwait is registered trade mark for me. I’ll sue them. I’m serious.
4. Z District | January 20th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
That is pretty cool! I hope that is the case!
5. balkrishna | January 21st, 2008 at 12:55 am
that strategy was attempted and failed miserably albeit on a smaller scale with dar alawadi on ahmad aljaber street, kuwait city. they even rejected starbucks and have now done an about face and allowed it into their mall to try to resuscitate it.
the reality of mall planning is that you need some familiar brands to draw the crowds in and then keep their attention with some of the newer debuts.
lets see what happens.
6. Mark | January 21st, 2008 at 12:58 am
Dar alawadi had a different problem. First the lack of parking. Second issue I think is the fact that it was tooo small a place. Its not a place to go spend the day at, you would have to go for a certain store and then leave. Malls are a place where you can walk around, shop around and generally pass the time.
7. Hamad | January 21st, 2008 at 2:26 am
if what they say is true ..
then it would be a hit ..
8. Damon Dash | January 21st, 2008 at 2:51 am
its owned by the same people who own almuhalab which is alshaya direct competition so thats not news really , it will be like almuhalab , and even that has the body shop in it! they cant compete against alshaya its very hard you will only get another muhalab which i guess isn’t that bad.
also i think they mean that they wont allow alshaya but they will allow other companies even if they have other branches in Kuwait just like the case in muhalab or ajyal mall or even albahar center, so basically it’s any shop other than alshaya owned even if they are old brands so..
9. Bo-Bader | January 21st, 2008 at 4:15 am
Don’t forget Almanshar too. I don’ think it will be a hit, bad idea and bad location. Alshaye will blow them away once he is done with stage 3 (The lakes) and Stage 4 (Magic Planet) an so on in Alrai. Alshaye understand the game, Tamdeen is still experimenting.
10. Angelo | January 21st, 2008 at 4:58 am
Old Navy, Express Men, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagles, Boarders, GameStop, Best Buy, Sharper Image, Official Apple Store, California Pizza Kitchen, Maggiano’s, Olive Garden, Qdoba….and many many more…
All the stores and retails I have mentioned above do not have Kuwaiti branches. Better import them if you asked me.
11. Bo-Bader | January 21st, 2008 at 5:16 am
Angelo
Good point. I did contact some of these brands few years ago. Most of them don’t offer international franchise (A&F, AE, Best Buy, Sharper Image, Victoria’s Secrete). Some told me that they cannot offer international franchise because their products are sold under different brands in Asia and they will violate agreements they already have with those manufacturers and retailers.
12. crocko rock | January 21st, 2008 at 7:28 am
You guys are way behind the game if you think a mall needs Al Shaya to survive. The only decent brand he has is Starbucks, and god knows people are sick of that store opening every 40 meters.
Has no one heard of Al Tayer, Futtaim, Bin Hendi? Shaya is trying to Lock down the Avenues (with ridiculous key money, rent per sqm) before these players come to town in force.
Wait till Non-Shaya Malls like 360, Mall of Kuwait open.
Comparing them to that shit hole Muhalab is a joke. The brands in there are mostly home made, imitation stuff.
When the other Middle East Retail Giants come to Kuwait, Shaya will get crushed if the Avenues is no longer the shopping ‘hot spot’ in Kuwait…. and God knows Kuwait is fickle.
I believe Shaya’s tricks and politics that he played with The Avenues (strategic placement of his competition) will come back to bite him in the ass within a couple of years.
Consumers and even business owners are sick and tired of Shaya dominating the market with his dull UK high street brands, they want fresh impetus in what’s already a highly saturated market.
Watch and see.
13. DJ | January 21st, 2008 at 8:44 am
Any idea when 360 will eventually open?
14. EniGma | January 21st, 2008 at 9:05 am
that was the initial plan for the avenues.. we all know how that turned out.
15. Armani Exchanger | January 21st, 2008 at 9:07 am
All what i hope that i would see my all time store ” ARMANI EXCHANGE (A|X) ;’ )
16. hammoodee | January 21st, 2008 at 9:49 am
it will probably be full of unknown nasty brands like al-bahar center and al-awadhi :/
17. zaydoun | January 21st, 2008 at 11:42 am
Dar Al-Awadi suffers from a dull location that nobody wants to go to… yet. Plus hardly any parking. Shame cos it kicks ass as an office tower.
360 will need one Starbucks and one Boots… and stop there. Hopefully they’ll get unique brands and not the same old crap that fills the Avenues
18. Sal | January 21st, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Yes, that’s exactly what Kuwait needs, more shopping malls. I see a nasty correction hitting the real estate sector. The bubble is about to burst and dues need to be paid. The return on investment on commercial real estate is 8 to 9% tops. KFH gives you 10% on fixed deposit without the headache.
19. ??? | January 21st, 2008 at 6:10 pm
The reason why Avenues is full of Al Shaya stores is because Al-Shaya is on the board of the Mabanee company, the owner of The Avenues.
Dar Al Awadi does have underground parking and is building/has built a multi storey car park. I think the reason for Dar Al Awadi not being that successful is due to it’s size and probably lack of promotion.
20. Mark | January 21st, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Dar Al Awadi has a tiny underground parking thats just for employees of the building.
21. ??? | January 21st, 2008 at 8:18 pm
It was open to the public when I went there but that was ages ago. I guess things have changed since I last went there.
22. hitman | January 21st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Avenues is boring
Muhalib is a dump
360 is targeting mid to high level brands
Symphony is targeting high
360 has a good chance to smackdown the avenues
23. Z District | January 21st, 2008 at 11:10 pm
I want a damn Borders… Barnes and Nobles… anything.. just something like that damn it all!
24. Mo | January 22nd, 2008 at 6:31 am
That would be VERY neat!
25. Bujasim | January 22nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
They should take shops such as the Chocolate bar, the burger hub,Carbon fibre, all created by locals with international stantards.In addtion Jareer or Majroody’s book shop.
26. Britchick | January 22nd, 2008 at 9:31 pm
When i read the headline thought the 360 degrees bar was coming to Kuwait. i luurve the one in Dubai - what a shame!!
27. november | January 22nd, 2008 at 10:38 pm
What Kuwait needs is room for entrepreneurs to start businesses and grow, somewhere where key money wont kill you and that isn’t a mulhaq or converted baqala..
also i believe that start up business owners should come together and convert older areas in Kuwait into hip streets that target similar markets and cater to a younger generation, kind of what restaurateur’s and boutique owners did in gemayze Beirut.
28. TRiPLE M | January 22nd, 2008 at 11:12 pm
cool..Kuwait is the number one franchising destination in the whole world.
29. xeonali | January 23rd, 2008 at 5:53 am
talking about beating alshaya .. plz go to UAE and see his stores .. he owns everything in their malls .. like he does here !
30. Bunouriya | January 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Kuwait’s tiny population is simply not enough to sustain growth and give much needed momentum to what’s become a lacklustre retail scene. At most it can support 4 or maybe, 5 malls max. Unless we see much bigger footfalls newer retailers are not going to want to test the waters in Kuwait. Like it or not, bring in the Russian, Indian and Chinese tourists and you may start to see the cash registers ringing like there’s no tomorrow.
31. nooon | January 23rd, 2008 at 10:04 pm
They need to open the country to visitors, who is going to shop at all these malls if they didn’t.
have anybody heard of the silly law of rejecting a family visa if he/she left Kuwait less than 3 months!!!
They need people to come and shop from outside the country in order for all these malls to go on…
32. HaaMooR | January 27th, 2008 at 10:50 am
please visit
http://www.360kuwait.com
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