Led by major chains like Wal-Mart and H-E-B, grocery stores are strengthening their presence in the Cy-Fair area. Houston commercial real estate firm Wulfe & Co. projects 28 new grocery stores will open in the Houston area this year. A handful of Cy-Fair locations are among them, including new Fiesta, Whole Foods, Kroger and H-E-B stores.

Whole Foods is wrapping up work on a 40,000-square-foot store opening June 25 at the intersection of Louetta and Cutten roads. It will be the company's eighth location in the Houston area and the first location in northern Houston.

The company chose to expand north because of the dense residential population, said Mary Langdon, community relations coordinator.

"The store will be reflective of the community surrounding it," she said.

H-E-B, Fiesta and Kroger all have plans to open new Cy-Fair stores later in 2014. A 63,000-square-foot Fiesta store is expected to open in November at Fry Road and FM 529. A 120,000-square-foot Kroger store is under construction in Towne Lake as a part of development around the Boardwalk and is set to open in August, developers say. H-E-B's fifth Cy-Fair location will open in late fall at the corner of Grant and Spring Cypress roads. The store will be an estimated 95,000 square feet, but the exact size and features are still being finalized.

Wulfe & Co. has conducted the grocery survey for 21 years with a 95 percent accuracy rate. Chairman and CEO Ed Wulfe said grocery stores tend to follow apartments and office projects.

Several projects are designed with the expectation that the stores would help attract other smaller retailers. The Whole Foods project features an additional 31,000 square feet for smaller retail. The Fiesta project is going in as the anchor of a site that includes 32,000 square feet of retail. Cypress Creek Lakes and Towne Lake are among the communities using big grocers as anchors tenants.

Plans are also in the works for several other grocery stores to open further down the line. In 2013, H-E-B purchased a 15-acre parcel of land in the future Cypress Creek Town Center at Fry and Tuckerton roads. Construction begins this fall with doors opening next summer.

Wal-Mart announced it would open a new store at the northeast corner of Longenbaugh Drive and Barker Cypress Road in early 2015. Kroger is planning a location in Fairfield for late 2015. The site will have room for four pad sites, which developers say could be filled with restaurants, banks or retail.