Neighbors Petition to Stop Walmart Grocery at Tesson Ferry & Butler Hill

Maryann Gregory may be a "sweet little old lady from Mayberry" but she's fighting retail behemoth Walmart over its plans to build a grocery store near the intersection of Tesson Ferry and Butler Hill roads.

"We don't need another grocery store in this area," Gregory said. "We don't need the traffic. We don't need the noise. We don't need our property values to decline."

Gregory also said a 24/7 business operation like a Walmart Neighborhood Market also will bring crime to the neighborhood.

Gregory and four others have been circulating petitions in order to generate opposition to what they believe is an intrusion in their neighborhood.

Gregory says there already is too much traffic in the area and the Walmart Neighborhood Market would bring more.

"Walmart did the traffic study and (it) says there is no traffic here. I beg to differ." Gregory said. "Did they do it at three o'clock in the morning?"

Gregory said there are two grocery stores and three mini-marts in the area in the area without the addition of another one by Walmart.

"Why are they trying to put a grocery store near all these other stores?" Gregory said. "We don't need it."

Gregory is proud of her neighborhood and is afraid the Walmart grocery store operation will disrupt the peaceful nature of her street.

"The best way to describe it is Mayberry," she said.

Gregory has been in touch with St. Louis County Councilman Steve Stenger's office about the Walmart proposal, but has not talked with him personally. Patch also was unable to reach Stenger for a comment on the Walmart plan.

"This place is on fire," Gegory said. "It would be good for (Stenger) to come out here and show his face. I'm just telling it like it is."

The straight-talking Gregory also wants to make it clear she has nothing against Walmart as a company, only the disruption a Walmart grocery store will bring to her neighborhood, where many of the residents have lived for 40 years or more.

"I don't have a thing against Walmart. I'm not anti-Walmart," Gregory said. "I go to Walmart myself. It's just the neighborhood I'm concerned about. We all want to stay here until God takes us home."