Value Village President Responds After Affton Says No, Wants No Conflict

When the Walmart development comes to Shrewsbury some existing businesses will be forced to move. One of those will be Value Village, in Kenrick Plaza.

Value Village president, Robert West, looked around and found 10040-42 Gravois Road, in Affton.

West had a signed lease for the new space, but rezoning was needed to allow a thrift department store to move in, which would have required St. Louis County District 6 Councilman Steve Stenger’s action.

Affton residents told Stenger they didn’t want another thrift store so he listened to his constituents and opposed the rezoning, despite 6,000 signatures on a petition.

Eventually, West gave up on the Affton location.

West contacted Patch on Tuesday to tell his side, though he made it clear he wants no conflict with Stenger.

“I was just trying to create a dialog,” he said. “I figure we were filling a void in a space that’s been vacant for a year and a half–that’s 50 percent of it. The other half has been vacant for six years.”

He said they’d been in the lease since January and could no longer afford to wait to see what was going to happen with rezoning, and the landlord was gracious to let them out of the lease.

So Value Village looked elsewhere, and West said he thinks they’ve found one that could work better.

“Two properties have presented themselves, and they’re very good properties,” he said. “They’re better for us financially. That space was going to take a lot of construction to combine the two spaces.”

He said Value Village will stay in Shrewsbury for as long as possible.

“We service a lot of people,” he said. “We’re a thrift department store and we try to be the best thrift department store we can be. That’s all we want to do, is continue to run our business.”

Read more about Value Village in Patch:

• Stenger: Value Village Gives Up on Move to Affton
• Is Affton Too Good For Value Village? vs. Free Market: Where Do You Stand?
• County Councilman: Thrift Store Not "Good Fit" for Affton