Abandoned Apple Store in Kuwait
Miskan, a Kuwaiti blogger, has taken some
great pictures of an abandoned Apple Store in Kuwait. These
pictures are bittersweet, on hand it is sad to see anything in this state, but on the other hand these pictures are
very cool.
It is as if this little section of Apple has remained frozen in amber. Think Different posters hang in the windows,
multicolored Apple logos are all over the place, and lining the shelves are long discontinued software packages.
The multicolored door railings are a particularly nice touch, but you really should stop reading my description of
this little slice of life from a troubled region, go look at the
pictures already.
You’ll thank me later.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
HNA said 6:59PM on 6-26-2005
The reason for the condition of the store is its location. I suggest looking at other pictures of stores in Kuwait before judging.
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Stephen Montgomery said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
This is a good illustration of just how thin the veneer of civilization is and why protecting it against the ravages of those who hate what others have created is important. It has become apparent that the nature of the violence in the middle east isn't so much about the reaction to a poorly planned scheme to bring down a sociopathic dictator as it is to simply destroy civilization itself.
While I don't know what caused the operators of the retail outlets including this Apple store to just walk (or run) away it's apparent there are those who will not be happy until we have returned to the jungle and caves to scratch out a cruel living while memories of a better time fade. What better represents the best of civilization than the Apple Macintosh?
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Oliver said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
The above post is a good illustration of how some people like to pretend they know what they are talking about when, in fact, they don't.
Who knows what's caused the apple store to be left in this state? What i can say, having lived in Riyadh, Dubai and Doha, is that the Macintosh market there is not exactly what you would call big. Maybe business was just bad, the owner had enough and decided to bugger off. Maybe he decided to start selling PeeCees instead!
I'll tell you what though, there's a few quids worth of posters in those windows.
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Jack said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
Stephen, Kuwait is not Iraq and this store being abandoned has very little to do with war or anything happening in the mid-east right now. If this were in the middle of any conflict, you'd expect a store filled with 1997 stock and equipment to be ravaged a bit. As it stands, it's shockingly intact. It's just interesting to see the place abandoned and in perfect shape.
Not every country in the mideast is war ravaged. Similarly, not everyone in the U.S. is the member of a radical militia. The key to understanding is to not jump to conclussions in any way.
That said, I really want to know what happened to this store. 7+ years and this preserved? Too odd.
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nole said 9:29PM on 7-07-2005
OMG Carmen San Diego!!!!
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Smeggy said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
Wow, sad, but very cool photos. That old Apple logo was so cool :D
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Shig said 11:49AM on 7-06-2005
Seems a little unlikely to me. There's not much sign of the store having been closed "ages ago," as the blogger claims: the posters, books, and post-it notes don't look crinkled or yellowed, and there doesn't seem to be more than a few days' worth of dust on any of the desks or shelves. Heck, even the windows are clean enough to see (and photograph) through. And there's still thousands of dollars' worth of merchandise on the shelves and displays. If this shop actually had been abandoned, I'd think most of the stuff would either have been taken by the store's owner, auctioned off for back rent by the property owner, or stolen.
Maybe there's something in the laws and customs of Kuwait that explains all of that, but it looks more to me like these photos were taken several years ago of a somewhat shabby but still operating store.
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Simon Gardener said 4:16PM on 6-16-2005
a couple of years ago i had my ibook screen die on me while working in egypt
so i made some enquiries and found out there was a dealer in cairo
i rang them up and they assured me they could take a look at it. could i come in tomorrow? . "yes" i said "i'll jump on the overnight bus". "are you sure you'll be here ? if you are w'ell get the engineer to come in."
So i did the 8 hour bus journey and spent a couple of hours trying to find the place in cairo and i went in
My heart sank. Despite discussing my model with them over the phone and being reassured they were familiar with it I had walked into a room witha few beige boxes in it and some old posters with the mulicoloured apple logo. i'd forgotten that apple made ugly computers.
Some of the staff looked at my ibook as if it had come from mars !
The others coo-ed and ahh-ed at it as if i was a new born baby.
the engineer had obviously never seen a picture of one let alone touched one
turned out he didnt even have any tools that would be able to open it up
Back to the 8 hour bus journey
Turned out i'd have to send the computer to Abu Dabbi or Dubai to be fixed.
i gave it to someone to take back to the uk
the laptop was picked up repaired and returned in 3 days. Fantastic
I was without a working laptop for one month
there was no way i was having it sent back by mail.
i'd either never see it or get F@cked by customs. bend over white boy here it comes
the upshot was i was without a working laptop for a month and the warrante repair cost me a flight and a weeks lost work - i work on safari boats
and the moral of the story if you are going to be working in a middle eastern country get a dell
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