Shop assistant Tania Medoro has a treasure trove of memories from her 20 years at the Woolworths supermarket in Millicent.

Her service anniversary was marked last week with a gift and an informal lunch with her colleagues in the staff room hosted by store manager Diana Bradbury.

Ms Medoro has no thoughts of retiring from her job which involves personal interaction with hundreds of customers each week.

“I would miss my customers and workmates too much,”’ she said.

The daughter of post-war Italian migrants, her friendly and outgoing nature is perfectly suited to her role as a customer service officer.

Most of her working day is spent overseeing the self-serve check-outs.

Her love of the retailing industry means she has willingly shared her expertise over the years as a volunteer shop assistant at the nearby thrift shops run by Lifeline and the Salvation Army.

Ms Medoro’s first day of work for Woolworths was September 16, 2001 but was not at the Davenport Street supermarket.

She worked for sister company Mac’s Liquor after its successfully applied to the Licensing Court for a bottle shop licence for Millicent.

This was based in the onetime Elders office in George Street and the building now houses the Wattle Range CFS Group headquarters.

The bottle shop later moved to the supermarket complex after a $2.5m expansion and Ms Medoro followed suit.

The most challenging time of her two decades in retailing came at the height of the first COVID wave across the nation in mid-2020.

There was panic buying and rationing across Australia and Millicent was no exception.

Security guards were employed at the local Woolworths to support the 70 staff.

“Everyone was on edge and worried about the virus,” Ms Medoro said.

“They did not know if they were able to buy goods.

“Things have settled down now.”