Fulcrum Publications Inc., a Toronto-based publishing house that specializes in trade magazines catering to small business owners such as food service operators, convenience store owners and car wash operators, has added a pharmacy magazine to its portfolio.

Front Shop, a quarterly book that debuted in March, is circulated to 16,000 pharmaceutical distributors and drugstores nationwide. The magazine aims to live up to its name by linking “the back to the front” of pharmacies, editor Jane Auster says. Stories focus on ways to improve business, industry trends, and health issues in Canada.

Advertisers include drug companies and vaccine providers, as well as companies in the confectionary business, such as Cadbury and Mars Canada. Front Shop also expects to generate revenue through an educational program for pharmacy owners that will launch next year.

Auster, who is editor of three other publications under Fulcrum, believes Front Shop can fill a hole in the market. “We didn’t think the business of pharmacy was being handled as in-depth as we thought we could offer,” she says.

The magazine’s primary competitor will be Drugstore Canada, published by Rogers Publishing Inc. That magazine, formerly known as Pharmacy Post, underwent a drastic redesign in September 2008 that saw it incorporate more business-y elements, including a section called “Frontshop Focus.”

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