Kuhn's Quality Market in the Cranberry Mall will close in early September.

CRANBERRY TWP — Kuhn’s Quality Market in the Cranberry Mall will close in early September, according to company officials.

“It’s becoming an overly competitive market. A lot of new stores moving in. We thought it was time to pull out of there,” said Dan Sakala, advertising director for Kuhn’s Quality Market.

About 16 employees will be affected by the store’s closure.

They will be offered jobs at the eight other Kuhn’s locations in Western Pennsylvania. No other Kuhn’s sites will close.

Sakala said Kuhn’s hasn’t given up on Cranberry completely and is looking at other locations. But for now, it’s too hard for the store to do business there.

The company also is looking to add stores in the future, said Sakala.

LG Realty Advisors of Pittsburgh, which operates the Cranberry Mall, did not return calls seeking comment.

Ron Henshaw, Cranberry’s director of community development, said he had heard reports about Kuhn’s possibly closing.

The township is unaware of any potential replacement tenant interest, and there hasn’t been any building permit applications submitted for the soon-to-be vacated space, Henshaw said.

Kuhn’s has been in the Cranberry Mall at the intersection of routes 19, 228 and Freedom Road since 2006.

It took over the former Shop ‘n Save space, when its former owner, Supervalu of Minneapolis, Minn., sold that location and several other suburban Pittsburgh grocery stores.

The former Cranberry Mall Shop ‘n Save closed on Jan. 28, 2006, and reopened as Kuhn’s the next day.

A number of Cranberry area supermarkets have opened and have been renovated in the past several years. Another new store is planned to be built.

Shop ‘n Save got back into the Cranberry market earlier this year with a new store in the Freedom Square plaza.

Giant Eagle has a store in the Cranberry Mall and another one several miles up Route 228 in Seven Fields.

Wal-Mart opened its supermarket several years ago, and a new Aldi Foods store is planned in the Cranberry Promenade near the intersection of Route 19 and Ogle View Road.