Rayner Garcia reached into the glass box filled with $1 and $5 bills, grabbing as many as he could in his small, 8-yearold palms. His little sister, Jenny, looked on with envy as he rose, triumphant, with three single dollars gripped in his fist.

Rayner and his sister were at the recent opening party for the Washington Mutual Bank in a spanking new mall in the South Bronx. Along with the afternoon drawing from the cash box, there was Big Franklin, a well-known Latin DJ, spinning merengue, and a food table spread with chips, salsa, and sandwiches.

A crowd had gathered outside the bank at the New Horizons Mall in the Crotona Park section of the Bronx. The mall, a tan expanse off the Cross Bronx Expressway, with tomato-red awnings and a perfectly paved parking lot, is the largest investment in the neighborhood in more than 30 years.

“This is a major revitalization expected to bring 300 jobs, over 90% from within the local community,” said the managing director for New York of Local Initiatives Support Corporation, Denise Scott. Ms. Scott’s group, along with Citigroup, helped finance the project, which was the brainchild of a 30-year-old community group known as the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes. While construction woes dogged the 134,000-square-foot shopping center and its opening was delayed nearly two years, it is now almost fully occupied with a myriad of tenants.

A Pathmark Superstore, with English and Spanish signs, bilingual pharmacist, and miles of produce and meat, anchors the mall. Payless Shoesource, Radio Shack, Rockaway Bedding, and H &R Block have also moved in. Some tenants are still setting up shop, hoping to open before the back-to-school rush. They include Petland, Subway, Lens Lab Express, Regines, and Popeye’s Chicken.

So far, the Pathmark and the Washington Mutual branch are reeling in business.

“It has a large selection and the prices are decent,” said Lisa Diaz as she walked home from a shopping trip to the Pathmark. “This is a great opportunity for our community, it is a large improvement,” her husband, Gene Santiago, added as he balanced a super-size package of paper towels on his shoulder. The couple and their three children live nearby.

“We used to have to borrow a car or take a cab to do our shopping, so this is wonderful,” said Mr. Santiago, a stay-at-home dad.

The Pathmark is hiring 200 employees, with the other tenants expected to generate another 100 jobs.

Thomas Sprolling was hired about a month ago to tend to the trees and clean the mall. The 49-year-old had been doing odd maintenance work before landing the unionized job. “I love this job, it is fantastic,” Mr. Sprolling said as he bagged garbage outside the Radio Shack.

Luisa Inoa, a 19-year-old college student, was hired at the Pathmark as a code-checker. “It is a great job with benefits, and it allows me to work during the day and go to school in the evenings,” said the aspiring police detective.

Kenneth Browner is the manager of the Washington Mutual Bank. The bank moved the Texas native to New York recently to oversee the branch opening.

“We received over $200,000 in savings deposits in the first week – people don’t expect that from this community, but there are quality customers here,” he said. The bank has hired eight full-time staffers from the neighborhood and one intern from the area high school, the Bronx Leadership Academy.

Bethzaida Hernandez is the assistant manager of the bank, and grew up blocks away. “I am so excited, the nearest bank is far, and this was really needed here,” she said.

Without a bank account, some in the community were forced to depend on check-cashing stores that demand a high percentage fee to cash paychecks. “Going to check-cashing places does not increase their financial profile, whereas a bank account can offer them something solid,” said the president of the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes, Cicero Wilson. Of the five women who started the Mid-Bronx Desperadoes in 1974 to save the area from drug infestation and crime, Mr. Wilson said, “Even with the rebirth in recent years of the South Central section of the Bronx, these individuals could have never envisioned a retail mall of this magnitude and one that will have such a positive affect on the community.”