In Thailand, oral contraceptive (OC) and emergency contraceptive pill (ECP) are available as over‐the‐counter (OTC) drugs, and drugstores share 30% of services. While the rate of dispensing contraceptive pills has increased, the knowledge and awareness of ECP use is limited among users and providers. The objective of this study was to assess knowledge and practice of drugstore personnel on providing OC and ECP, in order to improve the quality of services. Drugstores located in Hat Yai District, Songkhla Province, Southern Thailand, were the accessible population. There were 109 drugstores, half of them owned by pharmacists. The population was stratified by owner (pharmacist or non‐pharmacist) and randomly selected to obtain a sample size of 30 drugstores for each class. Two study methods, questionnaire interview and secret shopping, were used to measure knowledge, and practice, respectively. History‐taking, drug‐choosing, and advice‐giving were the domains measured. The results demonstrated that knowledge on OC was fair, but that on ECP was poor. Pharmacists had better knowledge of proper history taking and ECP indication than non‐pharmacists. OC and ECP provision were inappropriately practised in drugstores in the study area. A majority of drugstores were mainly owned by non‐pharmacists. For OC practice, drug‐choosing was good, but history‐taking and advice‐giving were poor in both groups. Although both groups dispensed ECP poorly, pharmacists dispensed significantly better than non‐pharmacists. Among non‐pharmacist staff, the average scores of OC advice‐giving, and ECP dispensing, were statistically significantly better among those working in pharmacist‐owned drugstores. Both knowledge and practice on OC and ECP should be improved in both types of drugstores in the study area. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.