Mac & Small
I passed by Mac & More today in Galleria 2000. The place was closed but the storefront is all glass so I could see what was inside. A couple of things grabbed my attention. First, the store has a large sign-age outside saying “Apple Center”. Then on the far right of that sign in small it says “Mac & More”. So ummm.. if the store is called Mac & More shouldn’t that be the largest and highlighted? Secondly the place does not match the official Apple Stores design. Thirdly they are using a red colored apple logo..?! Finally the place is tiny! Like ultra small. My pakistani barbershop is bigger.. and i am not being sarcastic here! I looked inside I could see 1 G5 powermac with an Apple display, 2 imacs, and a bunch of ipods on the shelves. I wasn’t able to see any powerbooks or ibooks nor any shuffles and mac mini’s. They seemed to have some accessories like the itrips and some skinz, but other then that nothing special. I was expecting “more” and didn’t get to see that. I am not a businessman or anything, but I personally think the store is gonna fail. It isn’t offering anything that the other retailers aren’t. If the store opened last year maybe it would have been better, but now that Apple products are being sold at Eureka and Virgin.. I don’t see how this store is gonna do any good. I have some pictures below which I quickly took from outside without the security catching me.
i totallly agree. i am from the US (hold all comments please..haha), and i am accustomed to seeing that when a store is an apple retailer, even a certified apple STORE, they have such a selection, or if not in inventory, then they have the ability to GET IT. i actually am stopping in again today, in hopes that they stock the meager item called the “iMic”. i think if they charge less, as Eureka/Virgin DON’T, then i think they will prosper. if their prices are the same, you are totally correct in saying they will go under. my girlfriend and i are both mac addicts, and it is sad to come to kuwait to see such a small market for macintosh.
hey richard check this out
http://unex-t.com/applestore/
thanks@!@@!! where is this store located at?!?!?!? and i went in to the store in Galleria 2000, looking for an iMic, and they kept thinking i said iMAC….but they had some off-brand copy of it…oh well. thanks again!!
[...] A new Mac store opened in Kuwait called Mac City. Someone told me its supposed to be the largest Mac store in the Middle East, if it is then thats very sad. I past by Mac City tonight expecting a “city” but all I found was a regular shop. I was expecting a large store with loads of Mac’s on display and a comfortable atmosphere where I could go mingle with other Mac users. What I got was an average sized store, with only 4 different Macs on display and an atmosphere that wasn’t comfortable at all. The store felt very sterile and unfriendly. It was obvious they wanted the store to look like an Apple store but they forgot one important thing, personality. When I walked into Mac City there were two employees, one was in his late 40’s while the other was in his late 30’s. They didn’t seem friendly nor did they look cool. The shop was also very quiet, there wasn’t any music playing or anything and every footstep me and Nat took could be heard. We didn’t feel comfortable, we quickly walked around checking the prices of the various products and then we left. I wasn’t impressed, I was disappointed and not just because of the terrible atmosphere but also because of the prices. Mac City is just like Mac & More, Virgin, IOC and Kamal Sultan… over priced. Mac City had nearly all the Griffin Technology mac accessories but ALL of them were more then double the price of what you can find online. The prices of the Apple hardware were also exactly like the other over priced Mac stores. 2GB nano is KD110, 4GB is KD130. 1GB shuffle is KD58 while 512MB is KD49. 14″ iBook is KD578 while the iMac starts at KD574. There are a whole bunch of Mac stores in the market already, this store doesn’t differ from them. So far the cheapest Mac store is zMacShop followed by Solize. The best atmosphere is also zMacShop and thats because the 2 guys who run it are young and friendly. Mac City is just one big disappointment. For those of you who want nano’s, wait a few days and you should be able to get them from zMacShop for nearly KD50 cheaper. [...]
Today I was planning on going to “mac city” to check it out and was hoping that the products there were not over priced, but since I read your review I cancelled my visit. you said that “zMacShop” is the best store so far. where is it located? thanks
ZMacShop
116 Walla’a Complex – Basement
Hawalli, Ibn Khaldun Street
Kuwait City – Kuwait
Tel: +965-261-7575
Email: info@zmacshop.com
Mark’scomments v helpful. zmachsop were v helpful when I phoned em
FYI prices seem same as we pay in South Africa, so will proabbly wait to buy till get home
P
[...] Back in February of last year I published a post titled “Mac & Small” and in it I talked about how small their branch at Galleria 2000 was and how over priced their items were. Well yesterday I passed by Mac & More’s new branch in Marina Mall and I have to say they are no longer small. The place looks really cool and huge.. and thats the only positive thing I can say. It seems when they moved from Mac & Small to Marina Mall they didn’t get any new merchandise. The place is empty and I mean empty. When you first walk in there is one MacBook Pro on display and one MacMini connected to a generic brand of LCD screen.. imagine not even an Apple Display! Once you walk into the rest of the shop you will realize that was it, no more Apple products.. the rest of the store is just a large shelf full of iPods and a wall full of generic iPod skins which you can find at any other Mac store in Kuwait including Mac City which is located in Virgin at the other end of Marina Mall. Even the tiny zMacShop have brands like Marware and Foof how come Mac & More don’t have anything cool? [...]
hi dear …………thak you………..bay bay
Hi Mark! do u have any idea does Mac city repairs ipod i m facing sum problem with my dialpad?