Hacker News Reader

Comment by jrochkind1 | Hacker News Reader

> I would describe German drug stores in the same way (except that they don't contain a pharmacy and can't sell over the counter drugs)

So, in the USA they are called "drug stores" because they sell... drugs. Prescription and over the counter. Are these really called drug stores, or using the German word for drugs, even though they don't sell them... because of their overlap with the non-drug business that the American ones have come to donate more square feet (and prob more revenue) to? Or for other reasons unrelated to USA practice?

View on HN

They are called "Drogerie" or "Drogeriemarkt" which could be quite translated to drug store. Just like in the other comment about the Netherlands, a pharmacy is called "Apotheke" in Germany and only they are allowed to sell prescription drugs and most over-the-counter drugs. You can't get Aspirin or Ibuprofen in a Drogeriemarkt here. I think traditionally the line was more blurred between pharmacies and drug stores but regulations changed that and our drug stores became some kind of specialized (mainly non-food) supermarkets.

I'm actually not sure if the definition of over-the-counter drugs can be applied in the same way in Germany. We have prescription drugs and non-prescription drugs. Non-prescription drugs are still limited to be sold by pharmacies only by default, for example Ibuprofen (but only in small quantities). Some selected categories of less potent drugs or pharmaceutical products can be sold by any store (and even then only if they can prove they employ someone with sufficient expertise).

Don't know how they are called in Germany but I guess it's similar as in the Netherlands: These "non drug" stores are called a "drogisterij" (and the English translation will be 'drugstore'), which is from a "chemist's shop" which in the past used to sell all kinds of stuff including medicine. These days the real drugstores are now solely called "apotheken" (pharmacies), I guess to distinguish them from each other.

There is some overlap with the two as the pharmacies also sell OTC drugs. edit: The pharmacy where I used to live as a kid was more of a drug store in the US sense with a pharmacy in the back, which also acts as the cashier, and the rest of the store was filled with all kinds of household products like beauty and cleaning.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com