March 7, 2011

Welcome to Cookie Central

By APRIL GUILMET
Union Leader Correspondent
Workers unloaded nearly 1,800 cases of Girl Scout cookies at Mack’s Apples farm store on Friday afternoon. The cookies were stacked inside the farm’s warehouse, where they awaited pickup by all 22 of the town’s Girl Scout troops. Cookie sales are ongoing through the end of this month. 
LONDONDERRY -- With 22 different Girl Scout troops in town, cookie season is quite an undertaking, one that requires the temporary use of a large warehouse, not to mention an 18-wheeler filled with boxes upon boxes of sweet, sugary goodness.
On Friday afternoon, Londonderry Girl Scout troops and their leaders gathered inside the warehouse at Mack’s Apples farm store. With the farm store now closed for the season, the vast storage rooms that just weeks ago contained the final remnants of last year’s apple crop were piled to the ceiling with crates of Tagalongs, Do-sidos and Lemon Chalet Creams. Mack’s owner Andy Mack Jr.
 agreed to donate his idle shipping dockforuseasLondonderry’s temporary Girl Scout cookie distribution center. It’s not the first time the local business has stepped in to assist the Scouts. When the farm store is open, local troops regularly host their bake sales there. 

“It’s that season again,” Mack said, eyeballing the 250box pallet of Thin Mints, his personal favorite, being placed on his forklift last Friday.
A truck containing a hefty 1,779 cases of the cookies pulled up to Mack’s shipping dock shortly before 3 p.m. on March 3. Within an hour, members of the town’s scouting troops arrived on the scene, with around two troops arriving every 15 minutes to pick up their cookie orders. The whole process took about four hours. Brownie troop leader Theresa Dodge, who is serving as this year’s cookie delivery manager, said the town has around 240 Girl Scouts, ranging in age from kindergarten through 12th grade. 
Cookie sales began in early January, when the initial cookie orders were taken. Though the cookies won’t be sold at Mack’s, the local troops plan on hosting several “cookie boosts,” or sales stands outside participating businesses, on weekends through March 24. 
The Girl Scouts will sell cookies locally outside of Shaw’s, Market Basket and Movie Scene in Londonderry, and outside of the Sports Zone in Derry. 
What are the top sellers so far this season? 
“Oh, definitely the Thin Mints, followed by the Samoas and Tagalongs,” Dodge said without hesitation, referring to the chocolate-covered mint, the toasted coconut chocolate and the trademark shortbread confections, respectively. 
“Those are our three top sellers, our hot cookies,” she said. 
Across the nation, most seem to agree the mighty Thin Mint, indeed, reigns as “top cookie,” according to the Girl Scouts website, www. girlscouts.org In fact, the Thin Mint accounts for 25 percent of all cookie sales, followed by Samoas (19 percent), Tagalongs (13 percent), Do-si-dos (11 percent) and Trefoils (9 percent). All revenue generated by the annual cookie sales support local Girl Scout troops in providing program resources and conducting special events. 
To locate a cookie sale site near you, visit http://cookielocator.littlebrownie.com./

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