Believed to be the first of its kind in Europe, a general aviation store has opened its doors to corporate flyers and airport employees alike. Under the trading name of Artifacts, the store sells anything from Godiva chocolates and Havana cigars to magazines, cigarettes and newspapers.\rWhile the idea was conceived by Vienna Aircraft Handling (VAH) md Gerald Reisinger, Artifacts is owned and run by Rakesh Sardana, franchise operator for the Vienna Harrods, which is reportedly the largest of its kind outside London. The general aviation store is the latest of Sardana's projects, following the opening of his 23 merchandising outlets to date, at Vienna Airport.\rPaul Davey, FBO manager for VAH (100 per cent owned by Vienna Airport), told EBAN: "I've never heard of a similar aviation-type store at a GA terminal and we believe it's the first of its kind in Europe."\rThe idea, it appears, has been on VAH's agenda for some time. Davey said: "It was my responsibility when I first came here as a consultant, to turn the GA Centre (now GA Terminal) into an American-style FBO. That's no easy task in bureaucratic Austria.\r"We renovated the entire GA terminal in order to accommodate the new Schengen regulations, we completed renovation of our restaurant some 18 months ago and the GA store was opened by Mr Sardana at the end of November 1999."\rLocated adjacent to and almost as big as the GA terminal, the new General Aviation store retails a wide mixture of upmarket merchandise, including many items currently being sold at Sardana's main terminal outlets, such as Harrods, Ferragamo, Boss, Bally, Tie Rack, Body Shop and Caviar House. \rAs sole operator of all duty-free stores in Vienna, Austrian Airlines decided to close the GAT located duty-free shop at the end of 1999. "Due to the fact that many of the flights departing Vienna's GAT are operating to countries outside the EEC, we at VAH consider it very worthwhile to continue offering duty-free goods at the GAT."\rIn order to facilitate this idea, Rakesh Sardana has applied for a licence to sell duty-free items through the general aviation store and he expects to open the store's duty-free department within the next month.\rEBAN asked Davey what the initial reaction to the new store has been. He said: "We opened the store at a very appropriate time. The Advent season, which begins in Austria on December 6 and ends on December 24, is a very lucrative one and Artifacts turned over far more than expected in its first month. A very good start indeed."\rDavey concluded: "At VAH, we know only too well the requirements of our GA customers and we are extremely grateful to Mr Sardana for contributing to the total service offer at Vienna's GA terminal. The general aviation store has also improved the aesthetic image of the GAT considerably."