With its cash dwindling, Cooler Screens shifted its attention to Kroger. Avakian persuaded the supermarket chain to agree to scale up from a small pilot to 500 stores. He told staff at a meeting around this time that the Walgreens deal was falling apart and heading toward litigation, but that its new business with Kroger marked the beginning of a turnaround. Avakian added that a Kroger exec had expressed excitement about their future together and said Kroger “didn’t give a f— about Walgreens,” according to two attendees. (Kroger declined to comment.)

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