ARLINGTON — Nov. 13 marked the end of an era for Cascade Medical Center Pharmacy co-owners John and Sharon Billdt, but it was followed by a new beginning for them and their staff at the Arlington Pharmacy Nov. 15.

John Billdt and his four technicians are all moving from the Cascade Medical Center Pharmacy, which closed its doors for the last time at the end of business Nov. 13, to the Arlington Pharmacy, where Billdt is excited to be working with more space and more modern technology starting Nov. 15.

According to Billdt, several physicians plan to move from the clinic where he and his staff used to work, into a new facility at Smokey point starting next year. Faced with the prospect of operating out of an empty clinic, Billdt chose to join forces with the Arlington Pharmacy and he promised his old customers that their new location will still offer the same service to which they’d grown accustomed at the Cascade Medical Center Pharmacy.

“I know that some customers might not make the move with us, but I hope to see the rest of them at the Arlington Pharmacy,” Billdt said. “We’ll be ready to take care of them like we always have.”

Billdt and his staff will gain the use of a larger facility and what he deemed high-tech, futuristic computer systems, scanners and inventories, while the Arlington Pharmacy will gain pharmacy technicians and assistants who specialize in wound care and dressings, compression, hose and brace fittings, and wheelchairs and walkers. However, both Billdt and Cory Duskin of the Arlington Pharmacy preferred to describe their partnership in terms of what they believe the community as a whole will gain from it.

“The community gets to keep an independent store,” Duskin said. “There’s not too many of us left.”

“So many of my customers were used to coming to my place that they didn’t even know about the Arlington Pharmacy, but as soon as I told them its location, they all said, ‘Oh, I know where that is,’” Billdt said. “I don’t want them to see it as our pharmacy closing so much as it’s moving. All the services we’ve offered that have been individually tailored to their needs will continue.”

Duskin added that Billdt’s customers will now also be able to avail themselves of the Arlington Pharmacy’s immunization services, longer business hours and 10-minute clinic, as well as its retail locations in Arlington, Smokey Point and Marysville. Its website is located at www.arlingtonpharmacy.com.