Jack Zickrick heard the question as soon as he unlocked the doors to Bimmers R Us Curated late last year: What is this place?
“That’s the million-dollar question,” says Zickrick, general manager of Bimmers R Us.
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That’s because Curated (2744 LaSalle), the new second location of acclaimed St. Louis BMW sales and service center Bimmers R Us, isn’t your standard automotive showroom, repair shop, or vendor of BMW parts and merchandise—though it is all of those things, too.
“Look at the word ‘curated,’” says Zickrick. “It means a mindful grouping of what you know—your expertise—and we’ve been doing BMWs in St. Louis for 33 years. It’s something we know a little bit about.”
Bimmers R Us, which has become St. Louis’ go-to shop for BMW service and repair, long ago outgrew its modest first location, at 3435 Kingshighway. For years, Zickrick and founder Greg Stroud searched for another place to showcase their expansive collection of classic, cool, and rare BMWs. The two found exactly what they were looking for in an unlikely location: a century-old 30,000-square-foot warehouse in the heart of Florist Row.
The new space, with an atmosphere reminiscent of a museum’s, gives Stroud and Zickrick room to host events and park as many as 30 cars on the 10,000-square-foot floor. Seven decades’ worth of rare and classic BMWs, some for sale, will be rotated through the space. The building also has room for retail.
Readying the space for cars required updates. The building formerly housed LaSalle Wholesale Florist, so several large floral coolers had to be removed. The façade was renovated; larger windows were installed, and a roll-down door on LaSalle was replaced with a portal more suitable for customers. They also made the important decision to add a large garage door to the back of the building. Without one, Zickrick notes, there would’ve been no way to get a car inside: “That was kind of a big deal.”
They also took advantage of the space’s historic features, removing drywall to reveal underlying brick. The mix of modern and historic elements has yielded a unique backdrop for the cars and an inviting atmosphere in which BMW fans can meet.
So what’s the answer to that million-dollar question? For BMW lovers, Curated is whatever they want it to be: a place where they can get their cars serviced, find parts and merchandise, or celebrate these Bavarian masterpieces and the culture that surrounds them.
“This whole place is a destination,” says Rob Libera, an assistant at the company. “We’re a service shop, first and foremost. We do buy and sell, too, of course—that’s part of it—but there are all these different aspects that [make Curated] all-encompassing. That’s the big draw, to me.”
