In a sign of just how competitive the grocery business has become, a bustling neighborhood supermarket will close next month in south Minneapolis near Lake Harriet — paid for by one competitor to shut out another.

The closing of Sunnyside Market was a “very difficult decision,” said owner Jim Almsted, who cited competitive pressures and an anticipated rent increase as reasons for closing the store he has owned since 1992 across the street from Edina’s Morningside neighborhood.[…]