The original Federal Way Walmart officially opened a full grocery section.

After two months of remodeling, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Nov. 4 at the store, 1900 S. 314th St. The location employs 178 people, referred to as associates.

Across the parking lot is Top Foods, which now faces stronger competition from the nation’s largest grocery retailer. The Walmart Corporation earned 51 percent of its $258 billion in U.S. sales from groceries in 2009, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This isn’t the corporation’s first foray into the Federal Way grocery market, which features three Safeway stores and an Albertsons, Fred Meyer, Trader Joe’s and H-Mart. In 2006, Walmart opened a much larger Supercenter — with a full grocery store — near the South 348th Street and SR 18 intersection. Upon opening, that location employed around 400 associates.

Another big retailer in Federal Way, Target, remodeled its Commons Mall store and began selling groceries this past summer. Those renovations were part of a corporate-wide plan to carry more groceries at Target locations.