The purpose of this study was to investigate how well the computer hardware/software industry was meeting the needs of the retail pharmacist. The needs were determined by a survey of 1000 Indiana pharmacists. A reply rate of 22% revealed that the most important problems pharmacists were facing with their computer systems were slow access of the data, the length of backup time, no drug interaction check, and no multitasking. Hardware and software means of meeting these problems were studied. Also the currently available systems were evaluated in terms of these problems. It was found that while most systems were adequately meeting some of these problems no system was addressing all of them. Some of the systems were multitasking but were much too expensive for the small pharmacy. A system can be designed that meets all of these needs without neglecting the basic needs of pharmacists and at a very reasonable cost.