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Girl Scout Cookie Sales End Sunday in Stow

Take a look at the Stow locations selling your favorite Girl Scout cookies.

Hankering for your annual fix of Girl Scout cookies? The clock is running out, as the 2011 sales campaign ends Sunday!

Fortunately for Stow residents, there are opportunities every day until Sunday to buy the scrumptious cookies. Fourteen area Girl Scout troops are taking turns each day manning booths at Lowe’s on Hudson Drive and the Giant Eagle stores on Kent and Norton roads.

And these girls aren’t just taking orders for future delivery. They’re outright selling boxes of Thin Mints (America’s favorite), Samoas, Do-Si-Dos, Dulce de Leche, Trefoil, Tagalongs, Thank U Berry Munch and Lemon Chalet Cremes. Cost is $3.50 per box.

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Members of Kenmore Troop 90282, based at Lawndale Elementary School in Akron, spent four hours Tuesday selling cookies from their booth in the Lowe’s “exit lobby.”

Troop leader Betty Lane said it’s not unusual for Girl Scouts to sell cookies in towns other than their own, as there is a sign-up system that determines regional booth space. Her troop has also sold cookies in Akron, Barberton and North Canton.

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The Girl Scouts at Lowe’s in Stow held signs and voiced their sales pitches, prompting some customers to buy multiple boxes. Those who turned the girls down did so in a friendly manner, with most explaining they had already bought cookies elsewhere.

Samantha Sebestinas, a Lawndale fourth-grader, is in her first year as a Girl Scout. So far, she’s sold 106 boxes of cookies. Stephanie Valarinos, a third-grader at Lawndale, is more practiced at selling, as she’s in her fourth year of scouting. Her track record is selling 200 to 300 boxes annually.

According to the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio, 3 million boxes of cookies were sold in 2010 by 27,300 girls, with the average girl selling 115 packages. Troop 90282 accounted for 1,200 of those sales last year, said Lane.

All proceeds stay within the local scouting council. Each troop earns 60- to 70-cents for each box sold, with the funds going toward programs, events or field trips chosen by the troop.

Lane said Troop 90282 has been saving up for two years to take a charter bus trip to Savannah, GA, birthplace of Girl Scout founder Juliette Gordon Low. The troop has an itinerary planned that includes about 15 sites and activities in addition to touring the Girl Scout national program center and historic house museum.

The Savannah trip will cost each troop member about $750, so strong cookie sales can be a big help in defraying expenses. The trip definitely motivates Stephanie, who said her favorite part of selling “is when people give you money for cookies so we can go on our trip.”

Lane, who has been leading troops for a combined 14 years, is currently in charge of four troops. Therefore, she has run a cookie sales booth every day since the 2011 sale campaign kicked off March 11.

Lane’s break will come next Monday, when the annual campaign is finished.

Following is a list of Girl Scout cookie booth times and locations in Stow:

  • Thursday: 4 to 8 p.m. at Lowe’s
  • Friday: 4 to 8 p.m. at Giant Eagle on Kent Road
  • Saturday: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Giant Eagle on Kent Road and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Giant Eagle on Norton Road
  • Sunday: noon to 5 p.m. at Giant Eagle on Norton Road
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