Is the purpose of supermarket refrigeration to keep food or people cold? The answer is obvious but current technology for vertical display cabinets results in a cold ambience and poor thermal comfort. This is well-known and has been investigated by practical measurement as well as by simulation. It is, however, not so well-known how customers and staff actually perceive this environment. In this paper, we provide results from objective (physical) and subjective (questionnaire) data collected in front of open vertical cabinets in supermarkets. The findings show that the air temperature is low (down to 7.6 °C), vertical temperature gradients high (up to 9.1 °C) and floor temperatures low. Gradients are higher and the perceived environment less favourable in summer than in winter.