Family-owned grocer Arlan's Market announced July 8 it will close its Magnolia location this summer, said Nick Arlan, vice president of Arlan's Market. The store, located at 17529 FM 1488, Magnolia, opened July 1, 2013, he said. "We are in the process of closing down that location," Arlan said. "I'm hoping within the next couple of weeks to have [the inventory] sold." Arlan, whose father, Ames, founded the company, said the rise of large-scale grocers in the Magnolia area have contributed to the store's closing, pulling sales away from Arlan's Market. H-E-B opened a Magnolia-area location at FM 1488 and Tamina Road in August 2016, Community Impact Newspaper reported. A second Magnolia-area H-E-B is slated near FM 149 and FM 1488, with a sign going up announcing the new location a few weeks ago, Arlan said. Additional new stores, such as Family Dollar and Dollar General, have also sprung up in the last few years, increasing the competition for Arlan's Market in Magnolia, he said. "It's gotten super competitive out there," he said. "The H-E-B, the Walmart, the road construction—all of this stuff that's been flying around for as long as we've been there, that this is possibly going to happen, we just kind of kept our head down and kept moving forward. But when we see something actually happen, then we react. And that's basically what has happened." Arlan said the main factor for the store's upcoming closure was the recent posting of a sign for a second H-E-B just a few miles from the grocery store. "A store like us, a company like us, we can't really compete with a brand new, 100,000-square-foot, top-of-the-line H-E-B or even any grocery store for that matter," he said. "We're a small, family-owned business. We have several locations, but it's still [the same family]. To help the rest of the company—to take some of the burden off the rest of the company—we decided it was time to exit Magnolia." Other factors, such as pending road construction by the Texas Department of Transportation to widen FM 1488 in front of Arlan's Market, played a secondary role in deciding the closure, Arlan said. The widening project most likely will require a portion of the grocer's parking lot, and construction would interfere with customer traffic, Arlan said. "Those are definitely concerns, but none of that has actually started yet. You can't really blame that for the reason that we're leaving," he said. The Magnolia location is currently offering a 25% discount on all inventory, Arlan said. Stores in Navasota, Waller and Hempstead will remain open. "We had a beautiful little store there. The employees were fantastic; the customers were always fantastic. They were loyal, very loyal," Arlan said. "We do love Magnolia. We've really enjoyed our time there." 281-356-1123. www.arlansmarket.com/stores/arlans-19-magnolia