Cursed Bikes & Coffee is rolling into a new neighborhood. The popular University City coffee shop is opening its second location in Tower Grove South.
The new shop will be located next to A&M Cyclery, at 4282 Arsenal. Cursed Bike co-owners Jeff and Erin Gerhardt bought A&M in November 2019 with plans to keep the name and renovate the space. The Gerhardts knew the former owner of A&M, who passed away a little less than two years ago. After his death, his family contacted the Gerhardts and discussed taking over the shop.
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“The bike shop will be keeping the name A&M Cyclery, named after the corner of Arsenal and Morganford,” Gerhardt says. “It has been under that name since the ’20s, and with that kind of heritage, I couldn’t change it. The coffee shop will be taking up the second storefront, which is currently boarded up, and will be called Cursed Coffee Co.”
The Gerhardts are charging full speed ahead with their plans. They are aiming to open the bike shop this spring after a complete remodel and the coffee shop in the fall.
The coffee shop will be “much more involved” than the flagship location, says Jeff Gerhardt. It will have an expanded menu with breakfast items and sandwiches, bakery items, and an expanded coffee menu with coffee liquors.
The couple opened the original University City location in 2017. Jeff Gerhardt, an architect by training, spent five years working with Big Shark Bicycles. His passion for cycling and knowledge of the neighborhood laid the foundation for a successful business. “You get 20,000 people coming down Forest Park Parkway every day; 18,000 on Hanley,” Gerhardt told SLM at the time of the University City shop opening. “If I can get even a quarter of that, we’ll be in good shape.”
The second shop will be right at home in Tower Grove South, which also boasts its fair share of cyclists and bike routes in nearby Tower Grove Park. “Coffee and bikes have always gone well together,” Gerhardt says. “We’re planning on this new location to be more of a community gathering space. We tried to achieve that at Cursed in University City, and it worked out well. This new shop has a chance of having an even bigger community presence.”
