I always wanted to experience this, and I am convinced that the history of this company began then - during the long breaks in the school yard.
I noticed several times eighth graders giving my two schoolmates letters curiously wrapped in triangles. "What is it? Who sends it to them? Why do they not want to tell me?” After a month of insisting, I finally got to see. "So, join us tomorrow. After school at three, around town.”
Weather was awful, autumn. We were walking in the mud and I still did not know where we were going to. We started climbing a fortress town bulwark and when we were below the top, I curiously saw crossed bar tips and smoke. There was a tepee below. The one I had seen in a Winnetou film, my heart was excited.
Everyone there was staring at me, examining me incredulously. A newcomer! However, I was allowed to come in, and since then I have felt like Alice in Wonderland. There were big boys sitting around a fire, everyone shook my hand, one at a time. “They call me Pádlo and we shake left hands.” That was the autumn of 1990 and the one who greeted me is my partner today.
That year, I got a Czech military field bottle from my mum for Christmas.
It was a rarity; it was difficult to get at that time. Like everything then.
Ten years later, we are sitting with Pádlo on the heater, swinging our legs. We are businessmen. We do our business as “high jumpers”. We are climbers, we do the aerial work. In winter, however, there is more winter than work. Sometimes we manage to find some trees to prune, but Pádlo already has a family and needs the gold coins in the winter, as well.
“We need something that we could do in winter, as well. Perhaps open a store.” Of course, we do not have a bean, so we get a loan of 150,000 (in marks at that time). Pádlo instantly spends it in Germany for the first goods from Mr. Sturm. I thought we would keep at least 50,000 in the bank account as a cushion, but Pádlo explains that the money must circulate.
1 May 2001 We are opening the first store. It is 20 m2 and has not got a warehouse. By 1 June, the money has run out, so we go back to a bank to get another loan of 200,000. We are particular about choosing a bank and go to the one with the prettiest young lady at the desk. Surprisingly, we got it even though I did not believe that we could ever repay it.
All works very smoothly for two years. We have our shop assistant, and we do our “aerial works”. Everything earned by the store is reinvested in goods and one employee’s salary. We move to a larger store and I feel that I have reached the peak of business and I will not have to work anymore.
“... a shop on the Internet. You sell goods to everyone, whether from Prague or Ostrava. You sell much more than in the store because people from all over the country can buy from you,” explains Pádlo.
“Nuts. You can never sell more than in the store. I will bet on it. You cannot!” In the summer of 2005, we launch our first e-shop and, within three months, we are selling the same volumes as in the store. We are carrying packages to the post office and have three employees. Pádlo was right again.
At the end of 2008, we realised two things: Firstly, we needed a larger warehouse with shipping and a store. Secondly, we could not have both. Therefore, we left the specialised construction work to our colleague and friend.
And because real estate prices were extremely high and with the impending 2009 economic crisis (which we did not know at that time of course), we bought a former theatre and Déčko disco club, including tons of letters from Lunatic fans.
This time, however, the bank did not give us the pre-approved money. Our investments in building, software and goods were huge. The total amount of debt had reached 8 million. Well, we will probably have to keep working for some time.
At the beginning of 2010, we moved to a new store with a warehouse area of 600 m2 and on 4 March, we establish MILITARY RANGE s.r.o. We are still working there.
We could write that we are the biggest, the most famous and the best and that we have the widest product range ... And it would be true. Figures speak for us. But we are also particular about other values.
We are a healthy company built on solid, long built foundations. Our goods are our goods, purchased from our money. As our greatest success, we regard the fact that we have always honoured our promises made not only to our customers, but also to our employees and suppliers. We are proud that even after 20 years, we are doing justice and are able to perform business on a handshake and that we have business partners and employees as we have.
