Another online retailer wants subsidies to move operations to the Bronx

Following the trend of Fresh Direct, an online children’s clothing purveyor is asking the city to provide $3.4 million in subsidies for it to move to and expand its business in the Bronx, the New York Daily News reported.

CookiesKids.com said their planned move would create 34 jobs and provide $9 million in city tax revenue over 25 years. By CookiesKids’ own admission, however, all of those jobs pay minimum wage.

The retailer intends to purchase and renovate a 98,000-square-foot Building On East 132nd Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx.

Meanwhile, controversy is still brewing over what many saw as an overly sweet deal for online grocer Fresh Direct’s move to the Bronx, wherein the company will spend $112 million to build a new, 500,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution center at the Harlem River Rail Yards. Fresh Direct received $130 million in tax subsidies to make the deal work, but the grocery giant has come under criticism for failing to nail down specifics on how many jobs the move will actually create in the borough, as well as for the fact that it does not even deliver to the area where its facility will be built. [NYDN]