<p> Sprouts Farmers Market is continuing its Texas expansion with plans to open its <B>first location in Cedar Park</b> in the Austin, Texas area. The move is part of the retailer’s ongoing strategy of taking on Whole Foods Market in its home territory, according to the Austin Business Journal. When the Cedar Park store opens, Sprouts will have the <B>same number of stores in the Austin region as Whole Foods</b>.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><img src="https://cdn.andnowuknow.com/legacyWriterImages/sprouts060214bdy.jpg" alt="cropped_053014" /> <b>(Image courtesy of Austin Business Journal)</b></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>The <B>27,000-square-foot</b> Cedar Park location will be Sprouts’ first store built from the ground up in the Austin area. The Cedar Park store is set to open Aug. 27th. Sprouts does have four other stores in the market, which were mostly Sunflower Farmers Markets, a chain acquired in 2012. About 100 employees will be hired, the company said in a statement. Sprouts is also scheduled to open three other Texas stores by the end of summer — two in Dallas and one in Houston. Sprouts operates 170 stores, mostly in the western U.S.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Last month, Sprouts Farmers Market beat expectations with a huge boost in its net sales for the first quarter. <B>Net sales increased by 26% to $720 million</b>, compared to $573.7 million in its first quarter last year thanks to strong performance in new stores and comparable store sales growth, according to its first quarter financial report. Same store sales grew 12.8%. This was a bit different from its competitor Whole Foods who, despite seeing record sales for the quarter, saw a severe drop in its stock price in after-hours trading after the release of its earnings report.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href=" http://www.andnowuknow.com/whats-store/sprouts-farmers-market-beats-expectations-stock-price-soars/11742/christofer-oberst" target="_new" class="btn"> Click here to read our previous article on Sprouts’ earnings. </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p>Some analysts say Sprouts’ lower prices give it an advantage over Whole Foods, while Whole Foods’ execs say they are lowering prices on many products with more cuts in the near future. How will the two retailers fare as they continue to go toe-to-toe in Texas? You know we’ll be watching.</p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://investors.sprouts.com" target="_new" class="btn"> Sprouts</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><p><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/company-info/investor-relations" target="_new" class="btn"> Whole Foods</a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
