White River Junction — Stern’s Quality Produce, the purveyor of fresh produce and fruit at bargain prices that has operated out of a cramped, yellow-painted storefront since 1985, is set to close this month as owners Judy and Keith Stern said they are retiring.

The last day of operation at the Pine Street store tucked behind the Co-op Food Stores and Upper Valley Auto Mart is slated for Dec. 31. Keith Stern said he is talking with a party that is interested in acquiring the 33-year-old business but can’t assure a sale will occur. 

Judy Stern, 72, said health reasons are compelling her to retire and neither her daughter nor grandson, who both work at the store, are able or wanting to keep the store going. Keith Stern, 64, said he expects the Vermont Legislature to adopt workplace rules dealing with minimum wage and family leave that he believes will hurt the small business’s bottom line. Keith Stern, a Republican from North Springfield, sought to unseat Vermont Governor Phil Scott in this year’s Republican primary. 

“I’m just tired, that and not being able to get help,” said Judy Stern, who said she has worked 60-plus-hour weeks since she was a teenager. Problems with her knee and hip are making it increasingly difficult to do the physical labor involved in stocking and managing the store, she said. Stern’s employs three full-time and two part-time workers. “It’s been tough,” she said.

Keith Stern makes thrice weekly midnight-to-noon trips to Boston-area produce markets to stock the store’s shelves and bins. The Sterns own the building and business but not the land underneath the building.

“After all these years it feels like like I’m letting my customers and suppliers down,” Keith Stern said at the store today, as he oversaw the unloading of the produce truck after returning from his overnight trip to the Boston market. “But (Judy’s) ready to retire.”