Hard knocks, hobbies bring success

Owning, operating and growing a small hobby store that sports a substantial inventory of radio-controlled model cars, airplanes and all the parts needed to make modifications and repairs requires more than total dedication.

It demands patience and persistence, esoteric product knowledge and a willingness to continuously meet and exceed customers' expectations.

Before he turned it into a Reno hobby store, Austrian-born Arnold Wratschko (pronounced "vrat shko"), started the business in 1983 as an import business.

He named it "AMS Imports." AMS stood for American Marketing Service.

Eventually, the 62-year-old entrepreneur expanded the business on Wells Avenue to include model airplanes because he said, "Model airplanes have been my hobby since I was eight years old." As a young man, he was a fighter pilot in the Austrian Luftwaffe (air force) for five years.

The importing part of the business faded, the name evolved to "AMS Imports and Hobbies," and then three years ago, Wratschko made it simply "Radio Controlled Hobbies." It has been successful as a hobby store, growing 8 percent to 10 percent per year for the last several

years.

Today, his inventory includes model car wheels, rims, tires, engine parts, paint, electronic speed controls, chassis and a wide variety of model airplane engines and parts, including a model jet engine.

The little engine produces 12 pounds of thrust at 120,000 rpm.

Wratschko gladly shows customers a video explaining everything about this little turbojet.

"You can see all kinds of other jet engines on my web site," he said.

His web site is at www.amsrchobby.com.

How Wratschko originally wound up in Reno is a case of good timing.

After completing a four-year "cook and waiter" apprenticeship in Austria, he learned beverage skills and management working many years for hotels and lodges in Switzerland, England and Canada, finally arriving in this country in 1965.

While serving as a maitre d' at Honolulu's Hilton Hawaiian Village in 1969, he met the late Bill Harrah, who invited him to Reno to work as a food shift supervisor at Harrah's Hotel and Casino.

Wratschko accepted, and he and his Taiwanese wife, Mei-shing, whom he met in Honolulu, moved to Reno.

When Harrah died and Holiday Inns purchased his downtown Reno hotel and casino in 1975,Wratschko lost his job during the new-management takeover.

He then began a three-year stint working in San Francisco hotels, while commuting weekly from Reno.

He got anxious to find work in Reno.

"I like Reno," he said with a noticeable accent.

"It is the best place to live around here."

He soon became a restaurant manager at Reno's El Dorado Hotel and Casino, a job he held for two years.

Wratschko has not always enjoyed his own business success.

In 1979, he opened the Moped and Scooter Factory in the Moana West Shopping Center.

The business survived for about five years until Sachs Motors of Germany, his supplier, lost a $3 million civil suit from a man who crashed and suffered a head injury while driving his Moped.

Sachs reacted by recalling its entire U.

S inventory, leaving Wratschko out in the cold.

Also, from 1990 to 1993, he owned a 30,000-square-foot model-car racetrack located near the former Harrah's Automobile Collection in Sparks.

A burglary cost him dearly, and coupled with other financial setbacks, he said he "nearly lost everything, including my house and my wife." With the aid of friends, he slowly recovered and was able to survive.

"I have learned retail business through the school of hard knocks," he quipped.

One of the things he as learned is to know his customers and how to keep them as customers.

He is proud of the fact five of his customers and his son Arnold Kurt Wratschko have grown up to be airline pilots.

"My customers are boys and men ages 13 to 70," he explained.

"Only a few women come into my store and they are shopping for gifts for men."

The radio-controlled cars are now 90 percent of his business, and the radio-controlled model airplanes and helicopters make up the other 10 percent.

Wratschko has one full-time and one part-time employee.

The payroll function is outsourced to an accountant, and he said his store's web site is outsourced to webmaster Don Avery.

Focusing on customer service is a high priority.

For example, he offers free oneon- one product orientation and training for customers to help them understand how to properly and safely use each product.

This includes giving free lessons on how to break in a new engine.

Most of the products in his store are covered by manufacturers' warranties.

If a product is returned because it is broken, Wratschko will fix it to the customer's satisfaction or, if no negligence is apparent, he will exchange the broken item for a new one.

Wratschko admits he started the hobby business "on a shoestring" and wishes he had begun with more capital.

He gets most of his competition from mail order houses and Internet retailers, but knows that offering a personal touch keeps his customers coming back and referring others.

"Word of mouth is the best advertising," he said.