[unanswered]

> I think there is no real distinction between drug store and pharmacy in English, but I'm not sure.

This is... oversimplified, at least. I'm sure usage differs by region, even within the United States, but where I am a "drug store" is a convenience store which either contains or historically contained a pharmacy (in the latter case, there appears to be a decent chance the store is an historical soda fountain/cafe). A pharmacy is a place where one buys prescription medications, often only being a section/counter of a larger store. I would never use the terms interchangeably: one does not buy household goods at a pharmacy, nor does a place become a "drug store" by the filling and sale of prescription medication.

[weinzierl]

Now that I read you comment I remember having seen this pharmacy within the drug store thing. I also remember that the lady there gave sort of medical advice to the customers and that I wondered if she was an MD or not.

[unanswered]

That's a whole other discussion about the nature of pharmacies too. The pharmacists themselves have specific degrees and I always assume they're more knowledgeable about things like drug interactions than even the prescribing doctors, if that's the kind of medical advice you mean. One probably works with pharmacy technicians at the desk though; I'm not sure about their qualifications. At the very least the techs can help me find the right OTC medicine if I want it as drug stores tend to locate those strategically near the pharmacy.

But many US pharmacy chains also have RNs onsite providing services, part time, for vaccines and such. That's not quite the same as an MD but it's different than pharmacology.

[eru]

In Germany, pharmacies have specific legal monopolies, and weird regulations, eg that forbid running a pharmacy chain. (It's a bit like unit banking in the US of yore.)

The pharmacists' lobby always defends them with 'oh, you need a proper pharmacist in a pharmacy to give people proper advice'. But whenever some intrepid journalist goes and tests the actual advice given by pharmacies in some bout of investigative journalism, the majority of pharmacies tested always fail dramatically.