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So the suspense is finally over. H&M annouced today that they will be collaborating with Versace for Autum/Winter 2011. The collection will be designed by Donatella Versace from their classic archives featuring a lot of leather, print and colour in exclusive materials at fantastic H&M prices for women, men and selected pieces for the home. It will be available from 17th November.

Donatella had said that she would never do a diffusion line for H&M back in 2008 for the reason that she “worked very hard to put the Versace line in the luxury section and to put the line in H&M would confuse the brand”. I guess the huge success of the collaboration with Jimmy Choo and Lanvin changed her mind. Thanks to the ladies in Kuwait and all over the world who wiped the rails clean within 5 minutes of the launch, I guess we will be seeing more luxury designers opting for a budget line.

[Link]

360 Mall won RLI’s “International Shopping Centre of the year” Award for 2011. The Global Awards ceremony was held at the Museum of National History in London on 9th June and the mall designers, RTKL Associates Inc. also won the “Designer of the Year” Award in a separate category.
 
The award recognized the contribution made by 360 Mall in design and operational excellence and they won against three international finalists: National Harbour – Washington, USA, Forum Istanbul – Turkey and Odysseum – France.

Another positive report for Kuwait’s retail market. Few months ago I posted about CB Richard Ellis’ Global Report that ranked Kuwait as 13th on the world’s most international retail market. Now AT Kearney has released its latest Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) ranking the top emerging countries for retail development.

Here are the top-ranked 10 countries:

1. Brazil
2. Uruguay
3. Chile
4. India
5. Kuwait
6. China
7. Saudi Arabia
8. Peru
9. UAE
10. Turkey

Kuwait ranked 5th as Middle East’s highest-ranked country in the GRD, three ranks down from last year. There has been a retail sector growth of 8% annually over the past five years and retail sales are expected to grow from $8.41 billion in 2011 to $11.92 billion in 2015.

Apparently, the high disposable income, low utility costs, extensive welfare provisions and high salaries for government jobs boosts consumer confidence and spending giving Kuwait one of the highest retail sales per capita of any country in the Index ($4,300).

Read the full report [Here]

This just came into my email at a very wrong time. The thing is that I love chocolates at a crazy level (I’m sure most ladies would agree with me!) and Hash always tells me to go easy on them. But I’ve been craving for them from a while so now I’m going to have to give in and indulge!

Alpina is a brand of gourmet chocolates based in Lebanon and they have two stores in Kuwait at the Royale Hayat Hospital in Jabriya and the Shamiya cooperative. They have just opened their new branch at the Omniya Center on Salem Al-Mubarak street in Salmiya.

I went on to their website and I really liked the elegant and vibrant gift designs. There are unlimited chocolate store options in Kuwait but I think Alpina brings some fresh creative ideas besides the ones we usually buy from. I especially liked the design below which is so perfect for weddings or engagements.

Now this is a the part I love. Their chocolates look pretty delicious and if I was standing in their store right now, I would have tasted the whole variety with Hash staring at me in disbelief! These are just a few of my favorite kind and I like how they have potrayed the essense and flavor of each variety in the photograghs. I will visit them soon enough and buy myself an assorted dozen.

The price for their chocolates range from KD16 – KD18 per kilo and the giftwares can be anywhere from KD20 – KD500 depending on the design and chocolates. Here is a link to their [Website] or you can call them on 66030324.

La Mer’s new Spring / Summer 2011 collection has now arrived in Kuwait at The Manhattan to complement this season’s big, bold and bright trends. The prices are quite reasonable in the range between KD40 - KD50 so go ahead and get your favorites before they’re all sold out.

I’m having a hard time deciding which one to go for, I personally love them all!

[Link]

I’ve been using the Swiss Army Classic perfume for over 10 years now and it has become my signature smell. Recently I ran out of it and I can’t seem to find it anywhere in Kuwait. I looked around everywhere starting from VaVaVoom, Beidoun to all the perfume shops in Muthana & Mutahida Complex but no luck. Does anyone know where I can find one?

According to the annual GlobeShopper Calendar survey, overseas shoppers will boost the takings of London’s retailers by £2bn this year and most of the shoppers will come from China, Russia, UAE, Kuwait and Nigeria.

Kuwaitis are the second biggest spenders who spend an average of £1,780 per head per visit. The biggest spenders are Saudi Arabian tourists who spend an average of £1,974.

The chart above lists the biggest spenders in the London.

[Link]

CB Richard Ellis released their 2011 edition of “How Global is the Business of Retail?” in which they mapped the global footprint of 323 of the world’s top retailers across 73 countries to identify trends in global retail expansion.

• Kuwait ranked 13th on the world’s most international retail market same as in 2010.
• Kuwait also ranked 13th on the most popular retail city in the world, one place up than 14th last year.
• Kuwait got the 3rd spot on the top five markets in the Middle East with the presence of 43% of European retailers. Dubai came in first with 63% and Riyadh followed with 45%.
• Kuwait also came in at 3rd position as one of the countries that attracted the most new retailers with six new entrants in 2010 shared by UAE, Ireland, Romania and Belgium. India came in first with 8 new retailers, followed by Turkey with seven.

The results seem pretty good since Kuwait tied with Singapore for the ‘Most International Retail Market’ outranking countries like Belgium, Japan, Canada and Switzerland. And for the ‘Most Targeted Retail Destination’ Kuwait tied with Berlin and Istanbul and beat major cities like Milan, Munich, Las Vegas and Miami.

Download the full report [Here].

Mona & I were at the Avenues today and we stopped by Fantasy World to look for Hasbro’s Transformers action figures. They are out of stock for now but we saw this really cool ‘Michael Jackson section’ where they have a Performance Kit and his signature military jacket.

The kit includes the hat, sunglasses, a white shiny glove and a wig for KD 10.950 and the military jacket is for KD 19.950. It comes in different sizes and an adult can fit into it too.

They put up this section less than a week ago.

Click on the photos to enlarge.

Update: The Performance Kit reminded me of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean performance at his 30th anniversary.

There will be six luxury brands opening up at the 360 Mall in 2011.

The new line up includes, Yves Saint Laurent (YSL), Emporio Armani, Manish Arora as well as the first Gucci Kids and Armani Junior boutiques in the region.

Ladurée the luxury cakes and pastries brand from Paris will also be opening up. They are known as the inventors of the double-decker macaroon.