A popular country store and hardware shop which has operated from its Stanton site for more than 60 years is set to close next week.

Tripp Batt, in Hepworth Road, will fully transfer its gardening machinery business to sister store Marlows in Bury St Edmunds.

Most of the 12 staff currently employed at the Stanton site will move to Tripp Batt’s outlet at Marlows, according to the company.

Tripp Batt, who have been part of the family-owned Con Mech Group since 1988, closed the engineering and industrial side of its business in 2015.

Owners the Con Mech Group, which is based in Darlington, County Durham, acquired Marlows two years ago for an undisclosed sum.

Tripp Batt says it has evolved many times in the past, encompassing new technology along the way, and its name shall continue.

Formed by Francis Tripp and Peter Batt in 1949, the company took over its Stanton site from Sturgeon Brothers, who were manufacturers of agricultural machinery and steam engines.

The company broadened its business over time to include site work for the equestrian, maltings, and food processing industries.

It also took on many smaller contracts in totally different sectors from time to time, such as balustrades for a local cinema, and bomb storage facilities at a military base.

At its peak, the company employed fabricators, electricians and carpenters as well as administrators and designers.

Many farms throughout East Anglia are currently using grain storage facilities designed and constructed by Tripp Batt’s engineering department.

A lot of weekend part-time staff started their working lives at the west Suffolk store, and some families have provided more than one generation of employee.

The business has benefited from a number long-serving staff at the store over the years, and current employees Robbie Foulger, Sally Cotton and Alison Tunbridge have more than 140 years of service between them.

In a statement, the company said with the onset of battery technology and robots in the garden, it is aiming to keep supplying the gardens and grounds of Suffolk with the latest machines for many years to come.

The store will close its doors on Friday, December 15.