Example sentences
shāng商diàn店kāi开mén门le了ma吗？
Is the shop open?
shāng商diàn店zài在nà那biān边。
The shop is over there.
About this word
商 is "trade, commerce" and 店 is "shop, inn". A 商店 is literally a trade shop, a place where commerce happens. 店 is one of the most productive building blocks in Chinese: 饭店 (restaurant, or hotel), 书店 (bookstore), 药店 (pharmacy), 酒店 (hotel). Once you know 店, you can guess the meaning of any X店 you meet. 商店 is the general word for a shop; the small ones where you buy snacks are more often called 小卖部 or 便利店.
The story behind the character
商
The earliest 商 is a vessel of some kind (the origin is disputed). It later meant the Shang dynasty, then "merchant". Because the Shang survivors made their living trading. So the 商 in "shop" began as the leftover people of a fallen dynasty.
店
店 is 广, the roof radical, with 占 giving the sound. 广 covers buildings, the same piece you find in 床, 座, 庭, 庙. Xu Shen never listed 店; his dictionary has the related 坫 instead, and 店 is a later coinage. Early dictionaries call it a lodging house, 旅舍曰店. Selling moved in afterward, and 商店 kept the roof.