Sprouts, a farmers-market type grocery store with a focus on healthy living, opened a 28,000-square-foot store April 17 in Spring Cypress Village.

"We offer healthy living for less," said Steve Black, a spokesman for the company. "We're affordable. One of the things we say is you can eat natural and organic without dipping into your 401K."

The new store is located at 22506 Hwy. 249, at the intersection with Spring Cypress Road. Black said the company received a lot of requests from consumers to open a store in the area.

Sprouts is an independent natural foods grocery store chain. The company, which opened its first store in 2002, sells farm-fresh produce and thousands of organic, natural and mainstream foods. Sprouts sells natural and organic meats, including free range chicken and grass-fed beef. The store also sells over 8,000 vitamins and supplements.

"It's like an outdoor farmers market inside a building," Black said. "What shoppers will notice immediately upon entering is the amount of produce we have."

The Phoenix-based chain opened a 25,000-square-foot store in Katy, at Cinco Ranch Boulevard and Peek Road, in March. Sprouts will also open a store in Copperfield Village Shopping Center in July. Sprouts operates 150 stores in eight states.

Sprouts is offering grand opening specials, including pineapple for $1, cherry tomatoes for $1, 1-pound of strawberries for 88 cents and natural, fresh chicken breasts for $1.57 a pound.