Within and Beyond the Pharmacy as Corner Store
“Community pharmacy,” sometimes called retail pharmacy, is arguably the most common type of pharmacy that offers the public access to medications and a knowledgeable healthcare provider. A community pharmacy, or drug store, also acts as a healthcare facility that is responsible for the provision of pharmaceutical services. Many, if not all, community pharmacies provide medicinal goods only available with a prescription and those with that can be purchased over-the-counter. Community pharmacists are regularly considered to be the most accessible health professional to the public, as they are available to provide personalized advice about health and medicine on a walk-in basis, without the need for an appointment.
In 2022 through 2024, pharmacy grabbed headlines in the United States. For instance, community pharmacy leaders and pharmacy organizations were forced to reckon with pharmacist mental health fatigue, strikes over pay and layoffs, tensions between doctors and pharmacists, pharmacy store closures, and ongoing opioid litigation related to pharmacy chains. To varying extents, all of these issues intersected with and impacted community pharmacy, and this special issue of The History of Pharmacy and Pharmaceuticals will add to ongoing discussions in the present and future.
The title of the proposed special issue of HoPP is called “Within and Beyond the Pharmacy as Corner Store,” and this collection hopes to bring together scholars from across disciplines and at all career stages to discuss the business, practice, marketing, advertising, retailing, and consumption of pharmacy in any country in the world. We hope to foster opportunities for open, equitable discussion across geographies and timeframes. Proposals supporting work-in-progress are welcomed, though the papers should be unpublished research based on primary sources and appropriate secondary literature. Early career researchers and graduate students are welcome to submit a paper.
Areas for exploration might include, but are not limited to:
- Community pharmacy and drug store spaces, their design, adaptation, and utility
- The influence of gender, race, class, and age on ownership, sales, and selling in pharmacies
- The business, economic, cultural impact of multiple/chain store retailers
- The marketing and advertising of pharmacy products
- The ‘invisible’ backstories of products and pharmaceuticals
- The working lives of pharmacy and pharmaceutical staff, amid changing professional standards
Please submit an abstract (c.300 words max) with short biographical details (c.150 words) by August 15, 2024, to [email protected]. We aim to inform participants of outcomes and invitations to submit by mid-October, 2024.