Stenger: Value Village Gives Up on Move to Affton

Affton residents who said they don't need one more thrift store will get their way, apparently.

Value Village, which will likely be forced out of its Kenrick Plaza location by an incoming Walmart had wanted to move to 10040-42 Gravois Road.

Now it looks like the move will not happen.

A Patch article on the possible move has generated almost 40 comments, most of them against the thrift store move.

A rezoning was needed, and District 6 St. Louis County Councilman Steve Stenger needed to OK it, which he opposed.

On Monday he told Patch that Value Village has “dissolved the lease, or avoided getting into a lease, and they’re moving in a different direction.”

Value Village had a petition with over 3,000 signatures to hopefully convince Stenger to allow the move, but mention of the petition is no longer on the company’s website.

Calls to Value Village president, Robert West, were not immediately returned on Monday.

Though Stenger publicly opposed the move, he said on Monday it wasn't for personal reasons.

“The community reached out to me and let me know in really no uncertain terms that they did not want the thrift store,” he said.

He said there’s too many thrift stores and check cashing stores in the South County area.

“You can’t rely on just those types of businesses for economic development alone, so the community spoke, and because I represent the community, I was really just a conduit, relaying what the community believed,” Stenger said.

He said an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch framed the issue as the community saying “we want better. We want more.

“I don’t think there’s anything inappropriate about a community wanting something better,” he said.

Stenger said, speaking for the community, “They’re looking for something that is just different than another thrift store or another check cashing place. They’re looking for some real economic development, and something that will add to the community.”