The economics of community pharmacy in Canada. Part 1: Overview and empirical analysis of community pharmacy strategies in Ontario

Regulators have in recent years focused on the business aspects of Canada's community pharmacy sector. Despite the regulatory attention, there is limited published evidence on the community pharmacy business landscape in Canada. To add to the evidential basis for policy-making, in this paper and in a companion paper we investigate the economics of the community pharmacy sector in Canada. In this paper, we describe national community pharmacy revenues, by source, review the strategies that pharmacies use to compete, and describe the different pharmacy ownership models. We then use detailed pharmacy-level data from Ontario to compare the competitive strategies—such as scale, hours, prices, and location—used by corporate and non-corporate pharmacies. We find that pharmacies derive most revenues from dispensing medications. Corporate pharmacies—which comprise about 30% of all pharmacies—operate at a much larger scale than non-corporate pharmacies. They are about twice the size, on average, as measured by the number of pharmacists employed. They are also more likely to employ pharmacy technicians. Corporate pharmacies are open about 20–40 more hours per week than non-corporates, depending on the format. Patient foot traffic is markedly higher. Corporate and non-corporate pharmacies also differ in their locational choices. About 22% of banner and independent pharmacies share retail space with a medical clinic; the numbers were generally lower for corporates. Non-corporate pharmacies were much more likely to locate in rural areas. Finally, we find that non-corporate pharmacies are more likely to offer specialized compounding services. In the companion paper, we integrate these findings with other evidence, including the grey literature, to describe the structure of corporate and non-corporate pharmacies and their competitive strategies. Can Pharm J (Ott) 2026;159:1–23.