Honestly, walking into a Walgreens lately feels less like a quick pharmacy run and more like a supervised visit to a high-security prison. You just want a tube of Sensodyne or maybe some Tide Pods, but instead, you're staring at a wall of plexiglass. You press a button. A bell dings—loudly. And then? You wait.
And wait.
It turns out, everyone hates this. Not just the customers who are ditching their baskets in frustration, but apparently, the executives too. In a moment of refreshing (or maybe just desperate) honesty during a recent January 2025 earnings call, Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth admitted what we all already knew: the Walgreens anti-theft measures backfire wasn't just a minor hiccup; it was a self-inflicted wound to the company’s bottom line.
"When you lock things up, you don't sell as many of them," Wentworth told investors. "We've kind of proven that pretty conclusively."
The Math of the Plexiglass Prison
Retailers call it "shrink." It’s a fancy corporate term for stuff that goes missing, whether it’s from organized shoplifting rings, a teenager pocketing a lipstick, or internal employee theft. Back in 2021 and 2022, Walgreens was sounding the alarm. They reported that shrink had spiked by 52%, reaching about 3.5% of total sales.
So, they panicked.
They started locking up everything. Not just the $500 electronics, but $6 deodorant and $4 toothpaste. They hired private security guards who mostly just stood by the door looking bored or intimidating, depending on the day. But here’s the kicker: while those locks might have kept some thieves away, they also kept the paying customers away.
Think about it. If you’re in a rush and you see the deodorant is behind glass, are you going to hunt down an overworked employee who is already busy at the pharmacy counter? Probably not. You’re going to pull out your phone, open the Amazon app, and have it delivered to your porch by tomorrow morning.
The "Crying Too Much" Admission
This isn't the first time the company has had to walk back its tough-on-crime narrative. Way back in early 2023, the former CFO, James Kehoe, made headlines by suggesting the company might have "cried too much" about the retail theft crisis. He admitted that the private security they spent millions on was "largely ineffective."
👉 See also: Royal Mail United States: How to Actually Send Packages to America Without Getting Burned
By the time 2025 rolled around, the damage was done. The company reported a $245 million operating loss for the first quarter of the fiscal year. When you add that to the news that they are planning to close roughly 1,200 stores over the next few years, it paints a pretty grim picture of a retail giant that lost its way.
Why the Digital "Cooler Screens" Also Flopped
If the padlocks were a low-tech failure, the high-tech attempts weren't much better. You might remember the "Cooler Screens"—those opaque digital doors that replaced clear glass on freezer aisles. Instead of seeing the actual pints of Ben & Jerry's, you saw a digital flickering ad for it.
It was a disaster.
- The Accuracy Issue: Half the time, the screen showed a fully stocked shelf of frozen pizza, but when you opened the door, it was a desolate wasteland of empty cardboard.
- The Human Factor: People just wanted to see the food. The "Cooler Screens" added a layer of digital "noise" that felt invasive and unnecessary.
- The Legal Fallout: Walgreens eventually tried to pull the plug on the 2,500-store rollout, leading to a massive lawsuit from the vendor, Cooler Screens. Walgreens argued the tech was "potentially dangerous" and frustrated customers.
Basically, whether it was a physical lock or a digital screen, every time Walgreens put a barrier between the customer and the product, they lost money.
The Hidden Cost of Friction
Retail experts call this "friction." In the age of DoorDash and 1-click ordering, physical retail has exactly one advantage: immediacy. You go to the store because you need that cough medicine right now.
When a store adds a 10-minute wait for an employee to find a key, that advantage vanishes. A survey by Numerator found that 1 in 3 shoppers will simply walk out or switch retailers if they encounter locked merchandise. For Walgreens, this resulted in a "hand-to-hand combat battle" for sales that they were clearly losing.
✨ Don't miss: Virginia State Employee Salary: What Most People Get Wrong
What’s Next for the Corner Drugstore?
The company is now pivoting. They’re looking for "creative" solutions that don't involve turning aisles into cages. This might mean better inventory tracking, more "BOPIS" (Buy Online, Pick Up In Store) options where the staff does the grabbing for you, or even smaller store formats that focus almost entirely on the pharmacy.
They’re also trying to fix their "real estate footprint." Closing 1,200 stores is a massive retreat, but the CEO argues that the stores staying open will perform better once they stop scaring away the regulars with "prison vibes."
Actionable Insights for the Modern Shopper
If you're tired of the "ding-dong" bell at your local pharmacy, here is how to navigate the current retail mess:
- Check the App First: Most Walgreens locations allow you to see if an item is in stock. If it’s a "locked" category, consider doing a curbside pickup order. You’ll get the item without having to beg for a key.
- Vote With Your Feet: Retailers track "lost sales" metrics. If you leave because an item is locked, the company eventually notices the data trend.
- Look for "Open" Alternatives: Some smaller, independent pharmacies or even grocery store chains have resisted the "lock everything" trend. They might be five minutes further away, but you'll save ten minutes in the aisle.
The era of the "locked-down" Walgreens might finally be ending, not because the theft stopped, but because the business model couldn't survive the cure. Turning a store into a warehouse where customers aren't allowed to touch the goods is just a slow way to go out of business.