Keshmiri brothers dominate adult cabaret sector in Reno

Jamy Keshmiri developed his love for business as a youth when he and his brother, Kami, would sneak onto the Lakeridge Golf Course after hours and collect out-of-bounds golf balls for resale.

"Of course, I had to sell them because he didn't have the personality that I did," Jamy Keshmiri says. "I would meet with the golfers and schmooze them for their money, and I just developed a passion for it."

The brothers' passion for business these days focuses on adult cabarets rather than recycling golf balls, and they've developed a dominant position in the business in Reno with the ownership of three major men's clubs.

As kids, the duo eventually got into trouble with course officials for their enterprise.

"They wanted us to give back the balls. They felt they were theirs, and I guess they were," Jamy Keshmiri says. "But I was a young kid, and I was just trying make some money. As a kid, $200 or $300 bucks over the summer was some good coin. I had some pocket cash, I was happy, and I liked it. Ever since then business just made sense. You work hard, you make money and you enjoy it."

The Keshmiris first legitimate business opportunity came in 1994, when they opened the nightclub Discopolis in the former casino space of the family-owned Ponderosa Hotel. In 1997 they re-invented the space into the Wild Orchid Gentlemen's Club.

To complement the upscale Wild Orchid, the Keshmiris purchased the former Diamond Jacks which previously had done business as The Spice House on Spokane Street in mid-2006, and they added Fantasy Girls on East Fourth Street to the mix in January. Diamond Jacks was renamed Diamond Dolls.

"With the Wild Orchid we had the upper-end clientele, but not everyone wants that high-end business," Jamy Keshmiri says. "We consider Diamond Dolls blue-collar, Fantasy Girls white-collar, and the Wild Orchid our professional club. We are covering all ends of the spectrum."

Keshmiri says revenues at all three clubs have been affected by the economic downturn.

"Any time you are dealing with discretionary income, of course it is going to affect you," he says. "You don't need to go to the strip club, that is entertainment and there are so many forms of entertainment."

The brothers plan expansions of all three clubs, but have no plans to add another venue or to pursue acquisition of The Men's Club on downtown's Lake Street.

"At some point you have think about whether you are cutting into your own revenue," Keshmiri says. "When you start adding more, you are just cutting your own pie. This type of business isn't expanding. Instead of McDonald-izing it, we are better off just expanding what we've got."

Jamy Keshmiri also coaches track at Reno High, where in the late 1980s his brother set 4A state records in the discus and shot put that still stand. Jamy Keshmiri envisioned becoming a teacher as a youth.

"I was born to be a teacher," he says. "I never thought I would be doing any of this. Life just leads you where it goes, and I don't fight it. Coaching is my supplement for that teaching instinct in me. I guess that is my consolation."