NIRVANA Mahase seems to be the sort of person the Bolle brand of sunglasses – the brand her store exclusively stocks – was designed for: Confident, quick-thinking, and at ease in the environment she has spent a great deal of time ensuring that is just right for what she intends it for.

The 25-year-old entrepreneur, and her boyfriend/business partner, Giovanni Charles, agonized for a brief while before inspiration for the name of their new tech-retail venture came through Dictionary.com’s ‘Word of the Day’, one day a few months back: ‘aegis’.

In addition to the relative exoticism of the word, its very meaning fell into what Mahase says is their guiding principle in establishing the business. Aegis means ‘protection’ in one sense, and the couple felt that one of their core commitments to their customers was to ensure that they only sold authentic, quality products.

The doors of the store were thrown open some two weeks ago. The Bolle innovation and elegance is replicated around aEgis’ Middle Street showroom, a modernistic space that seems geographically and architecturally misplaced as it is in the colonial-style wooden building, two lots from Windies Sports Bar.

With glass showcases, glossy posters and spare layout, aEgis has all the feel of a Manhattan showroom, but the décor is dominated by warm, Caribbean colours – orange, yellow, green – that somehow fuse well to invest the store with “a best of here meets a best of there” feel.

Its range of products includes the impressive Acer Aspire One netbook, a sleek, light machine that is thin enough and powerful enough to give off intimations of a Macbook Air, but without the worry of compatibility issues in Microsoft dominated Guyana, preloaded as it is with Windows Vista.

The ever-popular IPod Nano and Touch also grace the aEgis display cases, and the Nano now comes with a video camera and built-in mic and allows you to record video in portrait or landscape settings. aEgis also stocks several brands of sleek digital cameras which are a must have for the social networking crowd.

Leatherman, a name synonymous with quality multi-tools, can be found at the aEgis showroom along with Maglite regular and LED products, another big name in the utility line of work.

Home entertainment systems; flat screen TVs and audio accessories for computers and portable digital storage devices can all be found under aEgis’s roof.

So far, according to Mahase, the response has been great, with most walk-in customers finding something they couldn’t help leaving with.

Charles has said that they are looking to introduce a line of cellphones soon given the tremendous interest shown in the gadgets since aEgis opened. However, he is cautious noting the saturation of the local market and is setting his sights on some special mid-range handsets which he believes would have the combination of being fashionable and affordable.

aEgis is currently running their ‘Six days of Christmas’ promotion, with one week of discounts and other special deals for select customers, particularly those joining up to their Facebook Fan page. And early next year, the store will be having their official launch, with even better products in available.