Determination, sacrifice drive top sellers of Girl Scout cookies

Emily Cheung, left, Emma Wo, center, and Krysten Irion of Girl Scout Troop 507 each sold more than 1,000 boxes of cookies last year, earning them honors at the Girl Scout Council's Nu'uanu office. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

By Suzanne Roig
Advertiser Staff Writer

With dimples the size of the Grand Canyon and a smile as bright as a full moon, Krysten Irion asks a woman pushing a grocery cart full of bags if she would like to buy a box of Girl Scout cookies.

"You have to ask every single person who walks by — that's the secret," said Irion, a 13-year-old Punahou student. "By the end of the night my cheeks hurt. The smile is a given."

Each year for the past 70 years, Girl Scouts and Brownies have descended upon shopping centers from Jan. 16 to Feb. 8 — the same time every year — with their tables, their cookies and their smiles.

It's an experience shared in Hawai'i by thousands of Girl Scouts and their families as well as the countless potential customers who receive the sales pitches at home, in the office and, seemingly, outside every grocery and video store in the Islands.

More than 2 million Girl Scouts take part in cookie sales each year. In Hawai'i there are about 5,000 Girl Scouts, and though not all participate in cookie sales, last year they sold about 350,000 boxes.

Irion and her friend Emma Wo, also a Punahou student, are among the best at what they do. Each sold more than 1,000 boxes last year, earning them spots in the Girl Scout Council's Nu'uanu office Hall of Fame and roles as "cookie coaches" for younger scouts. The average number of boxes sold is about 115.

This week is the halfway mark for what Girl Scouts call "booth sales." But months before, the girls passed on tips to other scouts: how to handle rejection, the importance of a smile, thanking customers even if they don't buy cookies, making change and product knowledge.

It's fun selling Girl Scout cookies, the scouts say.

But it comes at a cost. Besides the shifts in front of grocery stores, malls, hotel lobbies and video stores, there's the organization and delivery of presold cookies. For four weekends a year, the girls give up going out with their friends. Four weekends a year, they are focused on eight tiny boxes of cookies. From the moment school lets out on Friday until sundown Sunday, they are selling cookies, with little but sleep between shifts.

Irion and Wo both hope to sell more than 1,000 boxes again this year. Two weekends into booth sales, they were more than halfway to their goal.

Last weekend, Irion and Wo spent six hours on Friday night at the Market City Foodland, four hours on Saturday outside the Hawai'i USA Federal Credit Union downtown and later, four more hours in Waikiki. On Sunday, they went to the International Marketplace from 8 a.m. to noon to sell cookies and returned to the Market City Foodland that afternoon for three more hours.

That's a total of 21 hours, and the schedule didn't leave much time to even eat lunch, let alone hang out at the mall with friends.

"It is a sacrifice," said Vicky Chiu-Irion, a troop leader and Krysten's mother. "There's an economic term called opportunity cost. The big sellers make choices."

So do their parents. Moms and dads have to store cases of presold cookies, help their children deliver them, keep track of the money and volunteer to stay with the scouts during the booth sales.

Last year, that meant keeping track of the $23,000 that her troop made and turning it over to the scout council.

Nancy Blaine, a visitor from New York City, was grateful for the sacrifices. It meant she could stock up on her supply. On a business trip in Honolulu, she picked up a couple of boxes of different varieties to give to friends back home.

"In the city, you don't get that much opportunity to buy them," Blaine said. "I have to say that I don't buy every time I see them, but I don't avoid them. I really like the cookies."

The Girl Scouts' annual cookie campaign is a great marketing effort, said Dana Alden, University of Hawai'i marketing professor. Despite the lack of any clear financial analysis on cookie sales, its return each year proves it is a moneymaker for scout troops, Alden said.

"The Girl Scout cookie sales have a lot of things going for them: Your purchase supports a civic activity with a good reputation and is well-known with strong brand equity," Alden said. "Put that together with small, smiling faces and a pretty good product and you don't have to do much persuading to sell the cookies. They're a brand upon themselves."

Money earned from cookie sales goes to the troop and their local council. Scout troops use the money to pay for programs throughout the year. Irion and Wo's troop two summers ago raised enough money through cookie sales to go to San Francisco. Their next goal is to go to Paris or the Great Wall of China.

Along the way, the girls learn how to approach people and build teamwork, handle money and in the process, build self-confidence.

"The program teaches the girls how to set goals," said Gail Mukaihata Hannemann, chief executive officer of the Girl Scout Council of Hawai'i. "It teaches them salesmanship, safety and how to reach and achieve goals.

"These are life skills."

Last weekend, Emily Cheung, 14, stood in front of the Blockbuster store at Market City Shopping Center looking for sales. This is her third year as a scout, and last year she also sold 1,000 boxes, which put her face on the wall at council headquarters.

"Every week I attend booth sales," Cheung said. "I stand for long hours. That's where I sell the most."

Cheung doesn't mind putting in the long hours. She sees the cookie sales as a chance to learn people skills.

"You have to smile, and you can't be shy," Cheung said. "Before I was really shy. The first year I only sold 200 boxes. I have to put my shyness away because if I'm shy, I can't sell cookies."

Reach Suzanne Roig at sroig@honoluluadvertiser.com or 395-8831.