The woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, said she was shopping at the supermarket chain on the corner of William and Wallis Sts on Sunday, October 5 when she endured an incident of verbal abuse.
“I was in the Woolworths deli, and it was quite packed actually, and I coughed,” she said.
“I put a hand over my mouth, and then I stopped coughing, and this guy came up beside me, and he said, ‘You cough my way, I’ll lay you out.’”
The woman alleges the man was swearing at her, telling her to “shut the f*** up”, and was acting in an aggressive manner.
“Who does that at the meat deli?” she said.
“I’ve never really experienced that in town ... It did make me feel unsafe, actually, because I really do think that he was a very aggressive man.
“I’m not a young person, I’m nearly 70, so if he has a go at me, who else would he have a go at?”
The woman, who will be celebrating her 70th birthday in a few weeks’ time, decided it would be in her best interests to stay quiet throughout the alleged attack.
However, behind her, another woman shopping at the store spoke out in defence of the 69-year-old.
“A lady behind me, who I didn’t have a chance to thank, said ‘well, that’s not very nice’, and he said, ‘you shut the f*** up’,” the woman said.
“It was quite threatening, but I was very grateful for the lady behind me. She was lovely, and I didn’t have a chance to thank her.
“But, I also didn’t really want to say anything because I really felt that he was the type of man that would hit you.”
Although the woman planned to follow the man out of the store and report his car’s number plate to the police, the incident left her so “nervous” that she dropped some of her shopping and missed her opportunity to go after him.
And, while the incident has left a mark on her, her thoughts are mostly with the woman who stepped in and spoke up.
“I just want to thank that lady,” she said.
The Telegraph has reached out to the Woolworths Group for comment.
20°C