A company that has not exactly received a warm welcome in the south Bronx is now collaborating with a local nonprofit to improve business in the area. NY1's Erin Clarke filed the following report.

There are 215 businesses along and around the 138th Street commercial corridor in the Bronx.

"We have a little bit of everything in this block," said Wendy Alvarado, store manager at D' Sweet Rose Beauty Salon.

When online grocer FreshDirect opens its new headquarters in late 2017, the company expects its employees will patronize many of those businesses that are less than a mile away.

"We will literally have thousands of employees," said Larry Scott Blackmon, public affairs VP for FreshDirect. "Many whom will be walking these streets, shopping in these stores."

FreshDirect's move to the south Bronx has been challenging. As public advocate, Mayor Bill de Blasio opposed it, and local activists warned it would bring traffic and pollution to a neighborhood already suffering from high asthma rates.

In a continued effort to improve community relationships, FreshDirect has partnered with the community development organization SoBRO to help boost area business. In exchange for receiving federal tax credits, FreshDirect must fund local economic development projects.

SoBRO has already been working to organize a merchants' association here and create a store directory to give area businesses more resources and visibility, so working together made sense.

"It's to create local resident consumer patronage, to kind of stop the leakages in the area, keep the money in the community," said Yesenia Polanco, a business specialist with SoBRO.

The merchants' organization is now coming together, tree guards have been planted and uniformed awnings on storefronts are being installed.

"That will attract the business," said Dr. Suresh Shah. "Then, the business will bloom. Then, the area will bloom."

The goal is to create a formal BID, or Business Improvement District, like those along major retail corridors in Manhattan - 34th Street, Fordham Road and Westchester Square in the Bronx. There is even interest from businesses as far away as 132nd Street.

But becoming a BID may take a while. Participating businesses must each pay a fee.

For now, business owners say establishing a strong merchants' association with no financial obligation is a good start.