When Leah Lipkowitz launched Montreal Home, a new shelter magazine showcasing the city’s interior design, architecture and landscape, she was aware of the tight market she was about to enter. But the 32-year-old, who previously worked as director of sales for now-defunct interior design title Wall to Wall, remains confident that her English-language quarterly can stand with established shelter books such as Canadian House & Home and Style at Home. “I think those are lovely publications but we have some beautiful landscapes, architectural settings and design work that has been done here [in Montreal] that deserves to be recognized,” she says. “I think we’re on the forefront of that.”

Circulation for the debut issue of Montreal Home was 90,000: about 70,000 copies were inserted into The Gazette newspaper, while another 20,000 copies went to newsstands around Quebec. With single copies priced at $5.95 per issue, Lipkowitz says she plans to distribute the second issue, set for September, to newsstands across Canada.

After the launch, Lipkowitz—who sold about $140,000 worth of advertising for the 132-page premiere—says she received subscription requests from across Canada. (A one-year sub costs $17.95.) “There are a lot of people that left Montreal and reside in other provinces now that want to maintain contact and hear about the great design here we have to offer,” the publisher says. “This is a great way for them to stay in touch.”

House & Home publisher Lynda Reeves says the launch of a new shelter magazine will only strengthen the category. However, she adds that Montreal Home’s local focus could be problematic. “The disadvantages are it attracts less national advertisers. Our magazine, Maison & Demeure [the French equivalent of House & Home, launched in February], is not a regional magazine. This feels very regional to me,” she says.

Lipkowitz, though, vows that her title’s local focus will not stand in the way of reaching an audience beyond Quebec’s borders. “We cater the magazine to those who are design-savvy or those who care about their homes,” she says. “This is a publication for them.”