COUNTYWIDE : Scouts Find Cookie Sales a Piece of Cake

The Girl Scouts plan to sell 453,000 boxes of cookies in Ventura County this year--more than half a box for every man, woman and child.

And the cookies sell--every last box, said Anne Hackett, assistant director of fund development and marketing for Tres Condados Girl Scout Council.

“We rarely have any Girl Scout cookies left over. They are a big seller,” she said.

Ventura County residents buy 70% of the cookies in the council’s area, which also includes Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The council plans to sell 648,000 boxes in the three counties.

Ventura County is home to 396 Girl Scout troops and 4,900 Scouts, who say selling so many cookies is a piece of cake.

Alicia Johnson, 10, of Oxnard was the council’s top cookie-seller last year with 1,281 boxes. It was easy, she said. “I called my repeat customers. My parents asked their friends and the people at work,” she said.

Besides the opportunity to win embroidered patches, stuffed animals, pewter figures and camp invitations, selling cookies is a chance to avoid homework, Alicia said.

“After school, instead of coming home and doing your homework, you can sell Girl Scout cookies,” she said.

Kathryn Magallanes, 17, of Oxnard recited her perennial sales pitch: “If you are on a diet, we have shortbread cookies--they have less calories, less sugar and no chocolate. All the cookies are kosher. If you have kids, the cheese crackers are really good.”

Aja Smith, 11, of Oak View said she takes order forms with her everywhere, getting advance orders for about 100 boxes. Her family helps out too, she said.

Orders will be taken until Feb. 10.

Then there are the booth sales in March, when stragglers get their last shot at the cookies, which come in mint, two kinds of peanut butter, cheese crackers, caramel, lemon cream and shortbread.

“I like booth sales a lot. You can buy the cookies yourself!” Aja said, with a giggle.

The cookies, which were trucked in from Richmond, Va., are scheduled to be delivered to Girl Scout troops beginning Feb. 25, said Joyce O’Brien, operations manager of Hilford Moving & Storage in Ventura, which is storing the cookies.

The cookie boxes, which range in weight from 7 to 12 ounces, sell for $2.50 each.

Proceeds from the sales pay for troop activities and tri-county programs for Girl Scouts, who range in age from 5 to 18, Hackett said.