The new opening is the sixth BILLA Corso location in Austria, which is considered the first address for gourmets and impresses with its modern and unique design. Inside, guests from all over the world, vacationers, business travelers and airport employees can expect a wide variety of fresh, seasonal and regionally produced products as well as ready-to-eat specialties on a sales area of around 460 m². If customers have any questions or individual requests, 36 employees are on hand to advise them - 26 new jobs were created for the location in the airport arrivals hall during the opening.
Marcel Haraszti, Rewe International AG Board Member, emphasizes: "Vienna Airport is a central hub for travelers and employees alike. People from all over the world arrive in the arrivals hall every day. I am therefore very pleased that we are positioning ourselves as an important local supplier at this unique location with the new BILLA Corso store. International guests should get to know a piece of Viennese culture as soon as they arrive at our store, but we also want to spoil those returning home with culinary Austrian specialties."
To celebrate the new location, BILLA invited representatives from politics and business, producers, employees and suppliers to the BILLA Corso store at Vienna Airport on April 12. Among others, Walter Ruck, President of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, Peter Hanke, City Councillor for Economic Affairs of the City of Vienna, Julian Jäger, Member of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG and Rene Pfister, Member of the Lower Austrian Parliament were present. After welcoming words by Marcel Haraszti and speeches by the guests of honor, BILLA Sales Director Eric Scharnitz presented the special features of the market. The event in the unique ambience ended with the participants networking in a relaxed atmosphere with culinary highlights of the market assortment.
"Vienna Airport is one of the most important transport hubs in Europe and, due to the large number of international connections, has a significant importance for Vienna as a business location. Businesses that set up shop at Vienna Airport are a calling card for Vienna and the whole of Austria. With the new Billa Corso, another showcase business is now coming to the site, which in style and range of products is fully in line with Vienna's good reputation worldwide", says Peter Hanke, City Councillor for Economic Affairs.
Julian Jäger, member of the Management Board of Flughafen Wien AG, is also pleased about the new addition of BILLA Corso in the arrivals hall and says: "Arrive with pleasure and take off: With the new BILLA Corso branch, we are expanding the existing range of high-quality shopping and dining experiences at Vienna Airport. Thanks to the extensive assortment, travelers, airport visitors and employees will receive quality supplies for their daily needs at the location. We are pleased about the now third BILLA store at the location, with which we can now offer a new and exclusive concept in the arrivals hall at Vienna Airport together with REWE."
Walter Ruck, President of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, added: "Vienna Airport also plays an important role in the international competition between business locations - especially when it comes to setting up operations in Vienna. On the one hand, this includes as many direct connections to and from Vienna as possible. On the other hand, not only high-quality connections are crucial, but also the airport itself as an attractive entrance for our guests. The new BILLA Corso will further enhance the airport and improve the regional offering."
Focus on regionality and fresh ready-to-eat specialties
True to the BILLA Corso store concept, indulgence is the top priority at the newly opened location at Vienna Airport. Customers are offered a wide selection of special delicacies from Austria and delicatessen products, as well as an exclusive range of wines and spirits. The offer ranges from exquisite coffee and tea specialties, pasta variations and pestos to spice mixtures, pickled vegetables as well as jams and much more.
Appropriately for Globe Trotters and on-site staff:ers, the location primarily offers a wide variety of freshly prepared ready-to-eat items such as handmade snacks and sandwiches. The salad bar features a healthy selection of diverse salads and vegetables, as well as a wide variety of smoothies and juices. Both are freshly prepared in the market every day by the employees. The so-called "Hot Bar", which is accessible as a take-away area outside the market, offers freshly prepared hot meals according to the time of day and is one of the many special features of the market. In the morning, customers can choose from apple pockets, croissants, ham sticks or börek, while at lunchtime curry rice bowls such as chicken curry or Asian chicken are on offer. The new store location also caters to purely plant-based nutrition: customers can choose from dishes such as plant-based Korma Chicken, but Gustl, the vegan Leverkas, is also offered on site at the hot counter. In the delicatessen, BILLA Reisen customers can look forward to a special offer in the first two weeks of opening: they can use a voucher to pick up a free snack directly in the store.
In addition, the newly opened store offers a wide range of local and regional products for its customers. "We are very pleased to be able to present our top-quality regional foods to an international audience at Vienna Airport. For example, we have sauces from Scharfen Rene, the cult sausage stand from Vienna, high-quality spreads from Hink Wien from Vienna-Floridsdorf or organic juices from Schäfer from Tattendorf in our store," explains Eric Scharnitz, BILLA Sales Director. "Also available in the wine and spirits assortment are, among others, wines from Fuhrgassl-Huber of the winery with Buschenschank from the 19th district in Vienna, but also Maria Theresia Rum from Schönbrunn-Spirits and many other products of domestic producer:inside," addsLidija Kojic, store manager at the new BILLA Corso location. Throughout Austria, BILLA works with 2,500 regional and local producers from the respective provinces - the regional assortment already includes more than 25,000 items and is constantly being expanded.
Unique store design in Art Deco style with Viennese wickerwork elements
A special highlight of the BILLA Corso store at Vienna Airport is its extraordinary store design in Art Deco style. Color-coordinated wall and counter tiles as well as light wood with hanging lamps create an elegant as well as pleasant ambience. A central stylistic element is the Viennese wickerwork. The art of wickerwork, which has been used in furniture braiding since the 19th century, originated in Vienna and is characterized by its timeless aesthetics, craftsmanship and tradition. At the new location, the braiding technique has been incorporated as wallpaper in green pastel colors, as real braiding in the bakery corner and in the marquises above the fruit shelves. The entrance and exit areas feature graphics of Viennese landmarks such as St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Vienna Giant Ferris Wheel to give customers a sense of Viennese culture and history right from the airport. In addition, the product groups are labeled in two languages to provide international guests with better orientation in the store when shopping.
