diff --git a/test/fixtures.py b/test/fixtures.py
index e442234b8..3c0c1cde5 100644
--- a/test/fixtures.py
+++ b/test/fixtures.py
@@ -29,13 +29,22 @@ from initdb import initialize_database, populate_database
 from path_converters import APIRepositoryPathConverter, RegexConverter, RepositoryPathConverter
 from test.testconfig import FakeTransaction
 
+INIT_DB_PATH = 0
+
 @pytest.fixture(scope="session")
-@lru_cache(maxsize=1) # Important! pytest is calling this multiple times (despite it being session)
 def init_db_path(tmpdir_factory):
   """ Creates a new database and appropriate configuration. Note that the initial database
       is created *once* per session. In the non-full-db-test case, the database_uri fixture
       makes a copy of the SQLite database file on disk and passes a new copy to each test.
   """
+  # NOTE: We use a global here because pytest runs this code multiple times, due to the fixture
+  # being imported instead of being in a conftest. Moving to conftest has its own issues, and this
+  # call is quite slow, so we simply cache it here.
+  global INIT_DB_PATH
+  INIT_DB_PATH = INIT_DB_PATH or _init_db_path(tmpdir_factory)
+  return INIT_DB_PATH
+
+def _init_db_path(tmpdir_factory):
   if os.environ.get('TEST_DATABASE_URI'):
     return _init_db_path_real_db(os.environ.get('TEST_DATABASE_URI'))