Once when I had a quite severe cough I did some (highly motivated) research and my conclusion was that there is no such thing as an effective cough suppressant. At least, none that isn’t also a consciousness suppressant.
And honestly, that takes care of a large portion of the medication. I bought it in the US to have the ability to survive a workday: IF I'm staying home and resting and sleeping, I tend to need less of the stuff for a minor ailment.
They do sell a few things in the pharmacies here (Norway) that help, mostly with pain and to do things like dry your nose (nose spray, not as many pills) and loosen up phlem. You can get allergy medicine. And so on.
And honestly, I worked at a pharmacy for 8 or 10 years in the US and there is only a handful of drugs OTC there, too - but there are more brands and more products that have multiple drugs in the same dose. The drugs just differ at times. US stores sell the pseudoscience as well (It angers me, but it isn't just one place doing it, which is the point).
Many of the pharmacies here are open longer than business hours, but it also doesn't always matter. The doctor offices tend to close at 3pm, before the pharmacies. If you are expected to stay home from work, you can get to the pharmacy.
The rest of the pharmacy is for old people looking for miracle cures to being old.