One night in Villa Moda

villa moda

Yesterday after I finished work i had to make a stop at my dentist but then me and Mark decided to pass by Villa Moda and see if anything was left. I wanted to get a black bag and was hoping to find one with a good deal since they were having the 50% discount.

We got there around 8:30pm and the parking was still really full, alot of cars where parked on the grass like last year and the rest on the sides of the road. Once we got inside we headed to Prada first since thats my favorite brand in Villa Moda. I couldn’t find any cool bags but they had some nice jackets on display but even with the 50% discount they were just too god damn expensive. A normal jacket with fur cost almost KD1000 while a full leather jacket cost nearly KD2000. Take 50% off and thats still an expensive jacket.

After checking out all the womens stores and not finding what I wanted we decided to hit the mens section upstairs where Mark ended up getting this really hot Prada coat-jacket. I was pretty happy since i didn’t have to get him another toy for xmas. For the past two years all my gifts to him have been videogame consoles which I hate buying him but he always wants.

I thought Villa Moda had nicer stuff during their last sale but then again I went in the morning the last time not late at night like yesterday. All the cool stuff must have been cleared out before noon. The guys section still had a lot of stuff so thats worth checking out if you are interested.

Dec 24, 2006

Related Entries

Villa Moda Summer Sale

The new Villa Moda warehouse

Villa Moda sale starts tomorrow!

Villa Moda Sale

25 Comments, add your own...

1. Jeromaxus | December 24th, 2006 at 4:13 pm

The part where Nats mentioned buying video game consoles for the past 2 years as a gift and hating it made me laugh… it reminded me of myself and my wife!

Mark, looks like we’re on a parallel dimension man! =)
2. Frankom | December 24th, 2006 at 4:37 pm

:: Woh ! ppl buying old stuff ! comparing to what i saw in Paris & London !! Villa Moda SUCKS and their prices are abnormal
3. Entrepreneur | December 24th, 2006 at 5:06 pm

Who the fuck is going to spend 2000 KD on a jacket in Kuwait?

Anyone with that kinda money would fly to milan or paris and buy it from the source, not some backwater store awash with annoying filipino assistants in the middle of shuwaikh!

stupid stupid business, need I say more?
4. lfc-q8 | December 24th, 2006 at 7:22 pm

for my self i`d prefer the nentindo Wii :)
5. Marzouq | December 24th, 2006 at 7:43 pm

Thats pretty cool that you guys headed over there! I heard its like a battle zone when people are buying shit! I dont go there except once every six months and thats for odd reasons! They are extremly over priced and they dont bring things really down! 50% and they are still making a decent profit!
6. DocXray | December 24th, 2006 at 7:58 pm

Are customers at Villa Mode absolutely sure that they are purchasing the real thing when Prada and other super-expensive brands are on sale at such a large discount. I ask because my wife and I just returned from China where we purchased copies of, amongs other things, Prada bags as gifts. The one which m wife purchased for herself (for about $US 50) could not be distinguished from the “authentic” item for sale in San Francisco (for about $US 2000) by the manager of the the Prada outlet. Every detail, including the supposedly secret and tell-tale spots placed to foil counterfeiters, was present. An Italian shopper we met in China (as he bought dozens of bags), told us that he believed many of the high-end brands are actually made in China with input goods imported from Europe - meaning the label “Made in Italy” or “Made in France” is correct but only for the material, not the final assembly. Anyone bothered to authenticate the stock at Villa Mode?
7. Mark | December 24th, 2006 at 8:05 pm

Villa Moda is just a building with mini stores inside. The Prada store inside is a Prada dealer. I doubt they would carry fake goods.
8. Armani_Exchange | December 24th, 2006 at 8:26 pm

If i didn’t saw a STORE with the brand of it outside… i wouldn’t even bother wasting my time going in there, since what happening with the craziness of having a FAKE brands all around the world … unfortunately.
9. Ali & Musaed | December 24th, 2006 at 9:01 pm

****SPAM REMOVED****
10. BEEZ | December 24th, 2006 at 9:47 pm

My cousin bought a pair of shoes from Prada- villa moda , so when she came back home, she discovered that they were ” MADE IN CHINA ” !!!!!!
11. DA | December 25th, 2006 at 12:40 am

someone should print this out and place it next to 2000 KD jacket

http://flatrock.org.nz/topics/odds_and_oddities/ultimate_in_unfair.htm
12. Entrepreneur | December 25th, 2006 at 7:22 am

Mark, I believe you are incorrect, Villa Moda is indeed the agent for all of the stores inside, and does the buying for all of the labels - i.e. it is their choice to go to italy, france or in the worrying case - china - to purchase the goods they sell.

Given the low volume of sales from the store, it would not be a surprise that nobody from the head offices of prada or gucci or anyone else for that matter would visit the store to check authenticity of the products on sale
13. anon | December 25th, 2006 at 7:47 am

why do people in here in kuwait make such a big deal abbout this clothes store?? if i buy anything it would be from london’s Harrod’s or harvey nicol’s of knightbridge, even then its 50% cheaper than prices in that crap store in shuwaikh.
any ways, sheikh majed made a huge loss, even though they are over priced, i should know, i work at the bank they bank with. whats funny is he was trying to ditch his loss by making the company go public where he could sell his share…so i wouldn’t be surprised if they started selling clothes made in china as if they were made in italy.
14. 1001 Nights | December 25th, 2006 at 10:16 am

I went there too and the place was packed but wasnt a madhouse. BUT you were not allowed to try anything on and if you bought something you couldnt return it. I ended up buying four items but since two of them I didnt try on they didnt fit well and I ended up giving one of them away!

I dont know where people are getting the information that the place is making losses?
15. zaydoun | December 25th, 2006 at 10:19 am

I went. I saw. I left

I went with no agenda..usually I go to score suits at 50% off, since nobody buys them anyway, but this year I wasn’t even inspired to do that.

There were some nice Etro shirts but not worth standing in line for hours… maybe I’ll wait till they calm down

Does anyone when the sale ends?
16. Menon | December 25th, 2006 at 11:58 am

villa moda is not shk majed’s anymore..

its owned by handa & al ghannam now..
KAPICO GROUP

(Atleast I’m 90% sure.. Someone pls confirm it)
17. anon | December 25th, 2006 at 3:14 pm

nobody sells a good thing

must have been a stinker :)
18. Toxy | December 25th, 2006 at 4:26 pm

LOLOL…..God almighty I’ve heard it all now.

Cheap Chinese Crap being passed off as original? Gimme a break. I don’t know much about handbags - but I can spot a Rip from miles off. I researched it once when I was buying a gift….try googling it.

Villa Moda selling fake shit? LOL….Do any of you guys even understand the implications of them doing this?

You are talking about putting their entire business reputation on the line - and for what? To save a couple of pennies by buying from a Chinese Sweat Shop?

Do the doubters not understand how retailers work?

IF they were buying fakes - do you know how easy it would be for the ‘inventory buyers / retail managers’ who are NOT the ‘owners’ to blow the whistle on their whole operation?

Villa Moda (already in KWT and Dubai) are in the process of opening in Salmiya, Khout and (soon) London. Do you really think they would jeopardize their entire operation?

Lol….Priceless…..

p.s. I have nothing to do with Villa Moda or any of their operations, the notion was just too pathetic not to shred to pieces.
19. DA | December 25th, 2006 at 5:06 pm

Well Toxy…the fake biz runs like this. U buy 10% original, stock rest 90% fake
20. lfc-q8 | December 25th, 2006 at 7:53 pm

toxy villa moda kuwait, dubai, india, qatar, bahrain, syria, and london
21. M | December 25th, 2006 at 9:25 pm

Just a note on the selection available at Villa Moda: Aside from the larger markets such as NYC, Milan, Paris and London most regional markets such as Kuwait, Lebanon, Toronto, Michigan etc usually only carry a smaller selection (amongst which is a mandatory basic set). Comparing Kuwait’s Villa Moda with other regional retailers I’ve seen I’d say the selection is on the better end of the spectrum. Nat’s original post was spot on, I think others are just complaining for the sake of complaining.
22. DocXray | December 25th, 2006 at 9:48 pm

It’s obvious that Toxy has never seen a top-end Chinese knock-off. If an experienced Prada store manager can’t tell the difference between the real thing and a high-end knock-off, then there are problems out there. If not at Villa Moda, then elsewhere for sure. Guess where most of the high-end “European” goods are manufactured now - China. The cost advantage to the companies is so great that they cannot ignore switching to China-based manufacturing (and the accompanying problem of copies and stock rip-offs). The probem is not new at all, but is getting worse as the quality of the Chinese goods meets, or exceeds, that of the European company specifications. Been there, seen it and now believe it.
23. Entrepreneur | December 25th, 2006 at 10:00 pm

Drama Drama
24. zaydoun | January 14th, 2007 at 3:08 pm

I take that back… Went 2 days later and walked out with a killer grey Prada suit for KD 220 (thats approx US$ 660!!) that I bought for work. It looks so sharp, I want to travel somewhere where it’ll be appreciated.

And a really nice Etro shirt for KD 30
25. miss ghesquiere | June 13th, 2008 at 1:24 pm

i know im so late on this discussion, but i dont think ppl who write this know the tiniest bit about fashion. When the buyers go to FASHION WEEK and view the Prada store, they then must place ORDERS for a specific amount of items which they will place in the store. They place orders in MILAN not CHINA. whether or not the goods are made in china has absolutely nothing to do with them being fake. If i bought a pair of Gap (yuck) trousers and they were made in China or the Phillipines, i does not make them fake Gap. Thats just where they make their products. Same with Marc Jacobs, if he produces his bags in the Phillipines or Thailand or China, then takes them to Italy to be finished with brass trimmings, that doesnt make them fake Marc!!
Villa Moda rules. most people would kill to go through such an amazing amount of premium designer stock. There are some old collections from designer like which i love a million times more than their new collections. In 2003, Prada had the most beautiful mashed-up version of 60s i have ever seen. I desperately wanted this gorgeous white skirt but i was too young and it was over 750 KD. I was at the first huge clearance last year and spotted the exact same white skirt untouched. I bought it, for 76 KD!!!!!! 76!!! please tell me where the hell else on earth are you gona find that?? Its fantastic and haters, if you dont like it, dont go! youre just crowding up the tents!!

Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed

Commenting Rules: Any comments that are personal attacks towards other users will be deleted. You are also not allowed to post with the name Mark or Nat since that might cause confusion. Finally, no advertising is allowed, you can't advertise your products or websites here unless its beneficial to the topic thats being discussed. One more thing: We are not responsible for readers comments!