Virgin Megastore continues to disappoint me with their business practices. First they started putting propaganda on all of their TVs. Then they forgot how to spell their own name. And finally, they stopped bringing in any semi-interesting music or books.
From what is left of Virgin (that hasn’t been whored rented out to Mac, Sony, Panasonic and Wataniya); they have come to the conclusion that ripping off their remaining customers is the only thing left to do.
First they start charging their customers 530KD (1833 USD) (Official cost: 600USD) for a grey-market PS3 at triple the price. (which conflicts with Sony’s stance on the product). Then they started selling Nintendo Wiis for 299KD (1034 USD)(Official Cost: 250USD), which is four times the price.
Now they have started charging 45KD (155 USD) for the Wii Controller and another 45KD (155 USD) for the nunchuk attachment. The official cost from Nintendo for these items are 39.99USD (11.6 KD) for the controller and 19.99USD (5.8 KD) for the nunchuck… I understand it can be a bit of a hassle bringing products into Kuwait. I can also comprehend the amount of overhead involved to run a store in Marina mall. However, that does not justify charging nine times the price for a joystick!
The cost for the controller in Virgin is even more expensive than buying a complete console. You could buy a full wii console and throw everything but the controllers in the garbage and still save money (You would save 70 USD). The other stores in Kuwait charge less than half for those controllers (and those are also a rip off).
I think someone at Virgin needs to take a step back and re-evaluate where the company is going. I give it a couple weeks before the only thing left of the store is a handful of magazines, old cds and children’s dvds in a 1mx1m corner; while the salesmen try to peddle off any remaining goods at ridiculous prices.
what do you expect from a company like group7.. zbaleh of course!
I never like Virgin to start with even overseas, the name itself is annoying.
This reminds me of the poem
Like a Virgin, touched for the very first time
Like a Virrrrrrrrrrgin…
Yaat 3ala Virgin bas ?!
Kil shay in Q8 mubalagh feeh sawa2 kan G7 or ishayi3 ..etc. ; 3aysheen 3ala il franchising wezyadat las3ar !
I prefer ordering Online o adfa3 shipping bas ma ashtery minhum o ham i get my stuff arkhas !!
technically, these items shouldn’t even be sold at virgin bc they are still not officially released.
the virgin in kwt exists in a twilight-zone of business much like most other companies in kuwait, multi-national or not. they sell whatever they want original or not and charge ridiculous amounts for it.
can’t blame them though bc there are no laws in kuwait to stop this stupid shit, and whatever laws they have only apply to small businesses not the top companies that can influence the laws.
Every prospective business owner would like to offer his clients a full suite of products. It’s the natural process of business survival. I’m sure Virgin is no different in that respect.
The more restrictions the idiotic Ministry place on the importation of ‘Entertainment Goods’ such as DVD’s, CD’s and (now) Video Games - the harder it is for Virgin to make its monthly overheads.
Consider the reason for renting out large spaces to 3rd parties:
-Lack of approved items (from idiotic Ministry)
-Censorship of 80% of all DVDs and now CD’s (from idiotic Ministry)
-Censorship of Video Games (yes, you read that right) (from idiotic Ministry)
-Enormous Staff costs (estimate 20-30 fulltime employees, mostly Arab not TCN)
-Huge Monthly Rental Cost
Unfortunately Virgin are stuck in a quagmire of red tape. The only way they COULD foreseeably ‘break even’ per month is to charge astronomically inflated prices on the GOODS THEY CAN SELL. Without those prices (and subsequent) buyers - they will go out of business. That is a no-brainer.
Compare the Virgin of Dubai to that of Kuwait. There are a plethora of DVD’s and CD’s to cater for all tastes. They can attract a much bigger buying audience because of the selection, hence also lower prices.
Let’s Attack the idiots who have decided that THEY should MONITOR and SPOON FEED what we (the Kuwaiti consumer) should put into our extracurricular lives.
Don’t Blame Virgin.
boy cut campaign!!
Ok! if the rotten ministry is to be blamed. how come we find a lot of products in Hawally or even other not so famous stores for half the price? Jus like the dudez at rihab were sure of their 700 KD PS 3 so is VERGEN with its 45 Kd nunchuck ! dont make is sound like virgin survives solely on CD s n DVD leftovers…!
WOW! thats alota money!
Ooh and you forgot to mention the BOOKS?
no More good Books
I want Books!
and you also forgot to mention how they’re always changing the places of things!
Thats really annoying!
And the books Upstairs are just not there anymore ;@
God They suck!
Ya zeen Virgin Lebanon walla!
I was about to go to Virgin today since my ipod car transmitter/auto charger broke down yesterday, I had no idea that Virgin had turned into such a company as I had only shopped there once about a year ago or two for a persian cd, but anyway since you mentioned so much about their service what’s an alternative to Virgin in Kuwait?
Toxy I do agree with you to a certain degree, but K has a point about a major company selling Grey Market Products at rediculous prices. The Official Sony would be very peeved if they found out that Virgin in the middle east is doing that. And for the amount they are charging they are not providing any warranty services.
Virgin has screwed up many times, and people have had high expectations for them. And they should be the ones pushing MOI not the other way around since its their stake on the line.
Also they should try to attract people differently like setting up the Virgin Cafe in a nice way like the one in Lebanon. Im just saying that their business strategy is off, as K said, they need to re-evaluate their stance!
Virgin shouldn’t be selling PS3 , because sony didn’t realse it for the middle east yet or europe for that matter
Thank you god for Amazon and Shipping
Maybe someone should notify sony about this.
amazon FTW MOI should go to hell!!!
4uck Virgin …
btw .. i once ordered a dave chappelle Show on DVD via Aramex , and the ministry of info confiscated it , so i went there to fight with them , and i told a guy there ( who’s job is ONLY opening up the boxes and playing the DVDs and fast forwarding through a TV and DVD player ) , i told him that you can find x rated stuff in virgin , he said Virgin’s DVDs dont go through the ministry , they take them directly from the customs to their shops , they are runed by Un-Touchables ,
i guess everything has changed now ..
btw … they sell Japanese Xbox360 for like 240 k.d …
I think like most kuwaitis … ive been inside virgin like 100 times or maybe more .. and I only bought from them like 3 times … for a total amount of 20 k.d i guess ..
so dont be fooled by the traffic inside ..
btw the PS3 is 430kd just checked it today.. but still thts 3 times the frikin price.. sometimes i doubt if this is Richard Bransons Virgin.
last november, a week after the launch of PS3, i traveled with my husband to houston, and tried to buy it, was totally sold out, and my only chance was to camp out a bestbuy or target.. then we went to NYC and same story, so what we did is buy it off Ebay, the PS3 60GB. it cost 1000$ after bidding and all… even off ebay.. i got it cheaper than any place in kuwait !!!
i will have to wait until march to buy nintendo wii, by that time it will be available in abundance (the actual launch day for kuwait is march for God’s sake!!).
You can send an e-mail to Richard Branson, I am pretty sure that he reads his e-mail personally.
seriously stop going there! I don’t know why you are ALWAYS there.
moey:
I expect more from a worldwide brand like Virgin. Their should be strict guidelines on what they should sell and for how much.
Purgatory:
I am actually a big fan of Richard Branson/Virgin .. from the Megastore to the Airlines.
Rimo:
I have yet to see anything at any of the Al-Shaya brands that aren’t comparable to cost elsewhere in the world.
As for the other stores, they are not operating under the virgin name.
holla:
Your right; they should be allowed to sell these things .. I am surprised Sony-Kuwait is not doing anything about it.
Toxy:
If virgin were to charge normal prices (even semi-inflated) prices for their items .. I would probably buy something from there. Charging nine times the price for a controller is uncalled for.
error:
I think you mean boycott; for those prices I don’t think people are shopping their anywhere.
SOS:
True, but I still blame the ministry of information.
Fayoor:
I have never bought a book from there .. the small bookshops in Salmiya have a better collection. As for the changing store, I have given up looking for the counter.
chica bonita:
Alternative in what sense? Electronics/dvds/cds?
Either way .. Amazon / Aramex is your friend.
Marzouq:
Exactly, Imagine if you walked into a BMW dealership and found them selling tvs for triple the price because their cars were stopped at the port.
forzaq8:
True .. and I don’t think Nintendo would be too happy if they knew their nunchuks were being sold for nine times the price.
DB23:
MOI in itself needs to be demolished.
Sami:
I don’t think Richard Branson remembers their is a store here.
vyyvaa:
My little brother camped out at Target; 20 hours later .. we have a wii for 75KD. And the Wii is much funner to play with than the PS3.
Blue Ice Envy:
How about you give him a call and tell him to check this out.
shopa:
Actually Nibaq took that picture .. I didn’t believe him when he said they were 45KD, so he posted them to flickr.
give them a break, they just need to earn a decent living, Ripping people who never heard of Amazon off.
The remote and the nunchuck are sold together for 45 KD.
fadibou:
Like the nice people at microsoft kuwait ..
Wii Fan:
Nope .. its 45KD a piece .. look at the picture.
And even if it was 45 KD, which its not, together .. its still a rip off.
maybe they know, I mean sony and those, they probably meant to locate one of their stores in Kuwait cause they know people here are ignorant & will go for whatever you make all nice & shiny, can’t they use and abuse balla?
Look closely. They package is taped.
spontaneousnessity:
I highly doubt Sony knows about 500KD PS3’s.. they aren’t even going to sell it in this market until March.
Wii Fan:
Nibaq took that picture, he specifically told me that they were each 45 KD and not taped together. He took them off the shelf, put them next to each other and took the picture. But since you are adamant that they are taped together and worth 45 KD as a set .. that does not justify the price.
Now lets say that the tape magically fell off and the price tag flew onto the nunchuck. All this while Nibaq was walking into the store to take the picture. The Wii Controller officially costs 12KD, the nunchuk costs 6 KD. Virgin is still selling them for 2.5 times the price .. a profit of 27 KD. A person would eventually purchase three extra contollers and nunchuks to fully utilize the Wii’s gaming capability.
At the end of the day, my post is about Virgins declining force in the market and the owners shoddy business sense to keep things running. You can not charge your customers triple and quadruple the price for items. And especially a company like Virgin; which should be following strict guidelines as to what it is allowed to charge its customers (read:msrp). The company needs to reinvent or it will be closing down in a matter of months.
I wasn’t justifying the price. The Wii console is also being sold at triple the price. I just wanted to point out that they are in fact being sold together. Even worse is that you can’t buy them separately!
just wanted to tell u this is on digg, and kotaku…
http://digg.com/tech_news/Virgin_Megastore_Kuwait_doing_Grey_Market_business_9_times_street_price
DIGG IT!
I dont know where you work but I really hope you’ve got some sorta involvement with 7imayat al mustahlik or that you’d at least contact them. Its obvious you put a lot of effort when you write these kinds of posts and all due respect to your blog it’s sort of wasted on a blog.
havent been there in ages. after going to virgin in lebanon, i cant even look at the one in kuwait
Fonzy, turning left from Gulf St. with your eyes closed is dangerous man.
hahahahaha mooch yeah verrgin mejaa istore is kinda hard to avoid.
man i bet people still buy from there !!
Actually I hardly see anything of value there maybe except for the magazines that are already same price anywhere else.
Virgin could actually stay forever just because it’s owned by Marina Mall people, they are still profiting from the rest of the stores in the Mall, and they will go on giving up pieces of Virgin to companies.
But it won’t stay a super mega-wega-giga store for long.
I just came back from watching BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA etc, (Hell of a movie btw), and I had nothing better to do than read this educated and somewhat sad blog.
Sry had to close the page, anyway, What I wanted to say was that the F*ckers at Virgin are nothing but blood sucking idiots with nothing but a need for greed. Rippin people off is all there good for, and they know it. (You can tell by the look you get from the cashiers that goes: “What a f*ckin moron, he’s acctually buing from here while he could get MUCH freakin better prices just down the road.”)
Instead of tryin to make a point (that EVERYONE already agrees with) on a blog you/we should do somethin about this, perhaps contacting owners or even sending e-mails to associates. Let us not forget, meanwhile, that this is Kuwait and wasta dictates here.
Anyway I just though I could leave an insight on what I thought and await the bloody responces.
If u feel u wanna talk 2 me just send me an email to: butt_sniff6@hotmail.com
Oh and btw: You need to watch Borrat, its damn brilliant.
Good night, and good luck! and as Borat would say. VERY NICE, Hi FIVE!
Geez, you’d figure we’d be able to get these things at well-known stores at at least half fair prices…I’ve seen it for 300Kd in Hawally in the black market (I like to call it that, every things fake)
At least thats only about double the price; without warranties, bundles, english manuals or anything, but still. Someone said he bought it for 150Kd, at first I believed him, now I think hes referring to something from US, fair prices don’t exist here.
The damned MOI wants such a great reputation for Kuwaitis and yet they them selves are flushing us. Why The Hell can’t we sue in this country!!!???
That’s totally crazy! i’d never think of paying such a price tag, knowing they just worth less than 100$.
Here in Saudi Arabia, the Wiimote and nunchuk both goes for 250 S.Riyal (that’s 66.7$), for the console it ranges from 533-620 $ at least as i noticed in February.
Although these prices looks cheap comparing to Kuwait’s virgin store, but i was planning to order mine online when the prices goes back to 260 $ or so (the official release price tag)
Suddenly, i found a store at Al-Ain, UAE that offer one console for 370$ and a Wiimote & Zelda game for 53% for each, which was a good deal for me. and i was lucky i shall say.
still looking for another 2 Wiimote and maybe more nunchuck. Probably I’d get them online.
Dear All,
I was amused by reading all your comments about the seemingly bad service at Virgin Megastore!
But, despite high prices, pls. do not forget the service you get.
A. People know what they talk about
B. If you PSP, your knucknuck or any of those other “overpriced” products breaks down or gets defective, Virgin is the only store in whole Kuwait who has proper after sales service and exchanges by fabric defect on the spot!”
C. The prices are soo high due to all the overhead costs, shipping costs, double duty and customs that Virgin has to pay, to cater you guys with all of your products.
So why are the street markets cheaper? Because they smuggle the goods in from Iran, sell not original stuff, that can be thrown away after 3 month and do not exchange if anything happens to the good.
Virgin undergoes regularly checks, where CDs, Books, DVDs, etc. are controlled by the ministry, if certain items are not thought to be suitable, they need to be removed, or extra expenses occur.
So before you freak out and complain about Virgin, pls. inform yourself. The costs charged in the store just help to break even, there is not much profit in for the owners.
And if you doubt this, look into basic economical theory to understand why companies operate that do not earn high economic profits.
I hope you guys understood. Life is not that simple.
Its not always black or white, good or bad. There is much more than that!
the prices are still crime-high, ENLIGHTENMENT.
double duty, shipping costs, customs, and all your other overhead costs ‘terminology’ are gonna take a major break becuz businesses are gonna suffer and weep when kuwaitis decide to STOP paying one day.
i know why kuwaitis still pay. you wanna know why? they’re loaded and ignorant. Loaded and ignorant. luckily, some are opening their eyes and realizing wasting money is not cool…
You say there is not much profit in it for the owners of Virgin…since someone put you attorney here…can u prove that? Because forgive me if I don’t believe it.
This is a problem that we (the kuwaitis) are paying for. We need to solve it, not do like Enlightenment and just ACCEPT the facts. Don’t be lazy. Even if Enlightenment is right, there just has to be another way of getting the goods here without paying so much, do other “far-away” countries suffer the same way we do when it comes COST??
Life is not all black and white - that’s true, but kuwaitis are starting to realize that something is just plain wrong, other countries don’t go thru this sh*t like we do and we have to because we leave close to the Equator?! Explain that…
Virgin is an overly priced store, the owner already gets billions cant he just make the prices a little bit cheaper or make a sale? Because i wanna buy a WII but its more than a 100 KD!! You kno sumthin go to Eureka In Salmiya here in Kuwait or Electrozan in Shuaikh! They sell the WII nd PS3 for soo cheap and you can try their stuff in the store! so forget about dum old virgin and do your self a favor and save yourself a bundle of money!