The national drugstore chains are in retreat.
Hundreds of closures announced. Stores that opened on prime corners a decade ago now dark. One of the largest went through bankruptcy.
In the middle of that, there is a chain across upstate New York and Vermont that keeps operating in towns most retailers left long ago.
It is owned by its employees, which is unusual, and it serves communities that a national chain evaluated and declined, which is the reason it exists.
The two facts are connected, and together they explain most of what makes this business work.