The 's implies ownership. Here are a few examples: A) It could be used in the sentence "that is the chemist's car." In that sentence, "chemist" is still a person, "car" is an object, and "'s" implies ownership. "chemist's car" -> "car owned by the chemist" B) In the case of "I'm going to the chemist's" there is no object explicit, so we assume it's the chemist's place of business. "chemist's" -> "_____ owned by the chemist" -> "shop owned by the chemist" because there is nothing else I care about the chemist owning. C) "I'm going to John's" is another example. John owns many things, but it's most likely I'm going to John's house, or maybe his shop. "John's" -> "_place to go_, owned by John." -> probably "house owned by John." D) "Is that Sally's?" he asked, while pointing to a laptop. In this case, the object is specified by the direction of pointing. "Sally's" + pointing action -> object owned by Sally

These are terms used in the UK, where small specialist shops are still relatively widespread. The 'apostrophe + s' combination refers to the retail outlet run by that person. A newsagent is a person who sells newspapers and magazines to the public, and a 'newsagent's' is the shop where he/she does this. You can think of it as an abbreviated form of 'newsagent's shop', if you like. Likewise, a 'chemist's' is a 'chemist's shop' - an outlet run by a 'chemist', which is a outdated term for what we would now call a pharmacist. In the UK, a 'chemist's' is a shop containing a pharmacy which also sells general products for health, hygiene and beauty care. Similar traditional shops are: Butcher's Baker's Fishmonger's Greengrocer's Grocer's In each case, they are the shops belonging to the particular specialist tradesperson. I hope that helps.

It's a form of possession Chemist's money = money of chemist Newsagent's responsibility = responsibility of chemist Mother's job = job of mother Parents' choice = choice of parents (in plural the apostrophe is after the 's') Grandparents' car = car of grandparents (plural) Doctors' decison = decision of doctors (plural)