Preliminary Girl Scout Cookie Sales Drop Nationally And Locally

By Eliza Hallabeck

As one of two Newtown Service Unit Managers for the Newtown branch of Girl Scouts of Connecticut, Audrey DeBlasio said sales of Girl Scout cookies in Newtown have so far reflected the national downward trend.

In a widespread email, the CEO of Girl Scouts of Connecticut, Jennifer Smith Turner, responded to the toll the economic downturn is having on the Girl Scout Cookie Program.

“This year our girls are learning first-hand how a recession can have a negative effect on entrepreneurs,” Ms Turner wrote in a email to newspapers across the state. “The results from initial order-taking for our cookie program were disappointing for girls in Connecticut. Leaders tell us that girls are selling and people are ordering cookies; just fewer boxes per order. It appears people want to support the girls, but no one is spending as much money. In the face of a 7.2% unemployment rate in the state and a worsening recession, this is understandable.”

 In Newtown Ms DeBlasio said the initial sale of cookies are down by 18 percent, compared to the national number of 19 percent.

In the email, Ms Turner wrote that the cookie program teaches entrepreneurial and leadership skills and supports key programs for girls that are delivered year-round. Girls Scouts will also be able to continue to take orders and troops will be setting up cookie booth sales in all areas of the state throughout the month of March

In Newtown, some of the places the booths will be set up include Stop & Shop, Newtown Hardware, and Yankee Liquor.

“We’re not done with cookie sales,” said Ms DeBlasio.