Zaharat Al Arfaj

Zaharat Al Arfaj opened in 2000 inside Kuwait City's Heritage Souk, the Mubarakiya market district, where it still trades today from Souk Al Zal, Shop 54. The family-run business built its name on sourcing: rather than relying on purely local materials, it draws raw perfume ingredients from France, Spain, Germany and India for its in-house fragrances, oud attars and cosmetics, aiming for a level of material quality a single-country supply chain wouldn't offer. From that original souk counter the business expanded into wholesale and retail trade across the GCC, while keeping the Mubarakiya shop as its base and fitting room. Its oud line includes named blends such as Sheikh Al Oud, Oud Turabi and Sweet Aoud, sold alongside a broader Zaharat Originals range and general perfumes and cosmetics. Under the ownership of Tony and his team, the counter has stayed known locally for personal service in a souk where dozens of competing perfume stalls sell largely interchangeable stock — the draw here is a quarter-century-old operation still run out of its founding location rather than relocated to a mall storefront.