First, the question: Is a drugstore THE SAME AS a pharmacy? The answer is no. A pharmacy is place, or a service, which prepares and dispenses medication. You'll find pharmacies in hospitals, as independent outlets and also as departments in retail stores. A drugstore is not what it sounds like. In fact, it's an American English term for a type of retail outlet which includes a pharmacy section but which also has a wide range of other goods: for example, cosmetics and household products. In larger drugstores, you'll probably find that the pharmacy is only a very small section, and that most of the store is taken up with selling other products. These other products also account for most of the business's revenue.

In the U.S., a drugstore and a pharmacy are as Su.Ki. described. In addition, a drugstore also sells medicines that don't require a prescription, whereas a pharmacy is usually a small operation and thus does not have a large inventory of medicines. So in summary, you can go to a drugstore in the U.S. to fill your prescription and buy some chocolate, a bottle of Coke, some potato chips, and aspirin for your headache while you are there. You only go to a pharmacy to have your prescription filled by a pharmacist. One more thing. Selling medicines is lucrative. Even grocery chains have a pharmacy inside their stores..

With NA English "pharmacy and 'drugstore" are the same. IN UK English, "drugstore" isn't used, or rarely at least. You would say "Pharmacy" or "Chemist" or "Chemist shop".

In North America (Canada and U.S.), most people make the distinction that Su.Ki.. and Alex Nguyen have mentioned.