Although primarily associated with filling doctors' prescriptions and selling medicines and other items for self-care, historically drugstores have also been operated as general stores, selling an intriguing range of toiletries, perfumery, confectionery, seeds for the garden, and household items.

For many years, the shopping experiences of customers owed a good deal to the distinctive drugstore aura created by a store's elegant wooden fixtures, rows of attractive glass containers, and a characteristic aroma arising from drugs and the preparations compounded on the premises.

Newfoundland Drugstores by John K. Crellin is a fascinating account of the important and varied roles that drugstores played in Newfoundland society.