Walgreens Is Smarting From Its $200 Million Fight Over a Fridge

The refrigerated section at the flagship Walgreens on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile was glowing with frozen food and bottled drinks, but not for long. Where the fridge cases were previously lined with simple glass doors, there were door-size computer screens instead. These “smart doors” obscured shoppers’ view of the fridges’ actual contents, replacing them with virtual rows of the Gatorades, Bagel Bites and other goods it promised were inside. The digital displays had a distinct advantage over regular glass, at least for the retailer: ads. When proximity sensors detected passersby, the fridge doors started playing short videos hawking Doritos or urging ...