The Food Lion store on Mountain Creek Road near Signal Mountain will close its doors Aug. 3, according to the grocer.

Few, if any, of the store’s employees will lose their jobs, said Kimberly Blackburn, corporate communications manager for Food Lion LLC.

“Generally, Food Lion associates are transferred to jobs at nearby stores if their store closes. This is the case for nearly all of the 29 associates at the store,” she said.

Officials with the Salisbury, N.C.-based grocery chain said the closing is part of “the company’s ongoing efforts to better serve customers.”

The store, at 816 Mountain Creek Road, has faced increased competition in recent years. A 200-000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter went up on Signal Mountain Road in September 2006. A nearby Bi-Lo also underwent renovations in the past year.

But despite the strong competition, supermarkets as a whole are performing well even through the economy has turned down, said Mark Hamstra, an editor at the Supermarket News, a New York-based weekly publication that follows the food distribution industry.

“We are seeing people eating at restaurants less and eating at home more,” he said.

It is not unusual for a chain that big to close a few stores each year, Mr. Hamstra said.

“If the store has gotten old, the market has changed or new stores have entered the market, it may not pay for Food Lion to keep that store open,” he said.

The store will have a 30 percent off sale beginning Wednesday, officials said.