Mustard Seed Market is closing its Solon location on Oct. 30, the Akron-based natural-foods grocery store announced on Thursday morning, Oct. 17.

The store, which opened in 1999, saw double-digit percentage sales growth early on, according to a news release, and was one of the largest natural-foods stores east of the Mississippi River.

But competition has taken its toll after the location's fast start.

"Unfortunately, the store did not develop as we had hoped, and today, with the increased competition both in bricks-and-mortar of all types as well as online, our time has come," Mustard Seed CEO Gabe Nabors said in the release. "My family wishes to give a sincere thank you to all of our Solon staff, the Solon community and to the thousands of customers that helped us these past 20 years to push health foods to the mainstream."

The company runs two Mustard Seed Market & Café locations in Akron — one in Montrose and one in Highland Square — and those will remain open.

The retailer of natural, organic and healthy food and products adheres to ingredient standards that include no artificial colors, flavorings or chemical preservatives, no saccharin or aspartame, no irradiated foods, and meats raised without the use of growth hormones, according to its website.

But the Solon store saw competition from Trader Joe's in Woodmere and Whole Foods in Orange. In addition, more traditional grocers and big-box stores have increased their organic and natural offerings over the years.

The Solon Mustard Seed will operate from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. every day until the last day of operation, the release stated.

The store's closure isn't the only change the grocer has seen this year. In May, Nabors took over as CEO. Phillip Nabors, who founded the company in 1981 with his wife, Margaret, stepped down from the family-owned business, handing the reins to his son.

Also in May, the company turned some of its focus on the increasingly popular cannabidiol (CBD) business, launching its own line of organic, hemp-derived CBD products, Hemp Luxe. Products include edible oils, creams, soft gels and balms. The items are private-labeled, produced by a Colorado manufacturer.

Crain's reported in May that interest in CBD has been so high that Mustard Seed established an e-commerce platform, Hempluxe.com, to support online sales.