Pharmacy closes after 30 years at Reedsburg grocery store

Aug. 20--After almost three decades, the Reedsburg Family Prescription Center inside Quillin's Quality Foods has closed its doors.

The pharmacy, owned by Cocoran Healthcare Enterprises Inc. closed up shop at its Reedsburg location Aug. 17. The company also owns Richland Family Prescription Center, at 301 E. Second St. in Richland Center, that will remain open.

Cocoran Healthcare Enterprises Owner Paul Cocoran said closing the Reedsburg location was an economic decision, especially with the changes the pharmacy industry has endured over the last two decades.

He said insurance companies getting more involved in the process provides a challenge for low volume pharmacies to survive financially.

Cocoran said both stores operated on a cash only basis and patients were reimbursed by insurance when he first purchased the stores in the 1990s. Now insurance companies dictate reimbursement rates given to pharmacies, the types of prescriptions it can fill, and telling patients where they can and can't fill their prescriptions.

"I was no longer going to be able to operate two pharmacies and maintain a positive balance sheet," Cocoran said. "It is with a great deal of sadness that we had to make this decision."

Leading up to the pharmacies closing date a letter was given to customers at the checkout counter providing information about the closing and changes.

Prescriptions at the pharmacy will move to the Richland Center location. Customers from the Reedsburg area can also choose if they want to move their prescriptions to a closer location or continue filling them in Richland Center, he said. The Richland Center location will provide next-day mail delivery at no-cost to those who live in Reedsburg.

Cocoran said moving the prescriptions to the Richland Center location was to provide its Reedsburg customers with "the same friendly service and customer interactions" they are used to. He also said the Richland Center location is a "higher volume store and are therefore able to survive for the time being."

Cocoran Healthcare Enterprises has not decided if the closing will affect any of the five employees who worked at the Reedsburg location or if they will be transferred to Richland Center.

Cocoran and his wife, Christine, purchased the Reedsburg and Richland Family Prescription Center from its previous owners in March 1990, when the Reedsburg IGA was Jubilee Foods. The IGA went thorough other name changes, including Second Street Market, before La Crosse based Quillin's Quality Foods purchased the store in April 2018.

Quillin's Quality Foods Owner Mike Quillin said the company was recently notified the pharmacy was vacating the area and the store is "looking at options" to fill the space.

"This space is leased separately from the landlord which is out of our control," Quillin said.

For more information, call Cocoran Healthcare Enterprises Inc at 800-458-2668.

Follow Erica Dynes on Twitter @EDynes_CapNews or contact her at 608-393-5346.

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