“We did it at a time when we thought our reimbursements weren’t so bad and then our reimbursements were cut 20 percent,” Kilmer said. “So the money we thought we could invest into Middleton is not here. It’s a double combination (of factors) trying to get a new business open and now (the State Street location) is losing money.”

The pharmacy was founded in 1972 at 666 State St. as Wisconsin Student Association Pharmacy and switched to a workers collective model in 1974. The business moved to its current location in 1984 and became a worker cooperative in 1995. Its lease expires in 2022 and the landlord has worked to reduce the rent.

According to the UW-Madison Center for Cooperatives, there are about 35,000 co-ops in the country with Wisconsin being home to about 1,200. Co-ops can be used in a variety of businesses including credit unions, hardware stores, housing and grocery stores, but the majority are related to agriculture.

Community Pharmacy is believed to be the only, or one of the very few, pharmacies in the country that’s a co-op — a worker-owned cooperative model in which the business is owned and controlled by employees, rather than end users.

According to the Center for Cooperatives, worker members directly benefit from the business’ success with profit distribution based on some combination of job position, hours worked, seniority and salary. Examples locally include Isthmus Engineering & Manufacturing and Union Cab.

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