Some look for bread and milk when they visit the supermarket. These two found love.

Chloe Walker and Conrad Moroney met while working at the Bureta Park Woolworths at the store’s opening in October 2014.

A slow burn

Between the canned baked beans, rotisserie chickens, freshly baked bread buns and aisle of confectionary, there was a slow-burn romance.

“We didn’t really pay attention to each other for the first three years,” says Chloe.

“I had a boyfriend for a while, and apparently he [Conrad] waited until after that.”

“We used to have chats in the staffroom,” says Chloe - presumably not only about the specials.

It wasn’t until they each had a little liquid courage at the 2017 Christmas staff party that they finally confessed their feelings for each other.

Chloe’s previous relationship had ended, and Conrad grasped the opportunity on that festive Christmas night.

Their ‘Woolworths baby’

That night they had their very first date, a romantic dinner for two at Phoenix. Then they had to see each other every day at work. Chloe admits at first, it was quite awkward. “Not for him, but definitely for me, I’m quite awkward,” she laughs. “I used to check him out when he was the produce manager because he was in direct line of the checkout area.”

Chloe and Conrad are not married. However, when asked, Chloe huffed: “I’m working on it!”

They’ll have been together for seven years this coming Christmas Day and will celebrate with their daughter. They call their 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter Charlotte their “Woolworths baby”. Chloe says they stuck with the theme of “C” names.

Working together and living together while raising their toddler has been manageable through the couple’s team effort. “Our daughter is in daycare, so I do half the pick-ups and drop-offs and he does the other half; then we do split shifts on a Sunday and just tap in and tap out or bring the child in.”

Conrad Moroney and Chloe Walker have both worked at Bureta Park Woolworths for 10 years, found love in the aisle in 2017, and now have daughter Charlotte together. Photo: Bob Tulloch.

Chloe says working with Conrad is a lot of fun. “I’m the one that gets to annoy him all day,” she jokes.

“I talk about work way too much when I’m at home and he doesn’t like it,” Chloe laughs. “He likes to leave work at work. “He gets sick of me talking about all the gossip around the store.”

A decade of customers

Chloe and Conrad really enjoy working at the Bureta Park store where they’ve now worked for 10 years - ever since it opened.

With 10 years’ experience in the same store, the two of them are really close with their coworkers and customers. “Every customer you’ve known for like the last 10 years since we opened. We’ve seen children go from babies to almost starting intermediate, it’s quite crazy.”

The area surrounding the store is home to many families and elderly people, meaning they’ve got to get to know them as they go through life in the community. “We’ve lost a lot of our older customers that we used to have all the time. We’ve seen a lot of them come and go, which is sad.”

Chloe and Conrad are not married, however Chloe says: “I’m working on it”. Photo: Bob Tulloch.

Chloe says the customers are generally really lovely. “You get the odd person that is grumpy when they come in, but you try to change it; and if you can’t, there’s nothing you can do about it. You just have to smile and continue.”

Across a decade working in the store, staff members have come and gone too. Chloe and Conrad, plus three others, have been with the store since it opened.

“They’re both down-to-earth individuals,” says one of their coworkers, Lulu Tongalea, who has worked alongside Conrad and Chloe since the beginning and watched their relationship flourish. “We’re all quite close.”

The store has recently been fully refurbished and the team are ready to welcome the community. If you’re in the store, be sure to say “hi” to the team.