FOLSOM, Calif. — Two Folsom businesses buy Girl Scout cookies in bulk to support the scouts’ business efforts, and in some cases, donate the product to troops or first responders.
Shannon Family Automotive, a vehicle repair shop on Sibley Street, began buying the treats in bulk in 2017; Evangeline Scott’s Reliance Home Loans, inspired by the Shannon family, began the same trend in 2018.
Shannon Family Automotive
Colleen Shannon owns and manages the repair shop. She said the small business buys Girl Scout cookies in bulk to provide a safe place for girls to practice entrepreneurial skills.
“We primarily give the cookies to our customers, our employees and our local first responders,” Shannon said. “Last year and the year before, we put the cookies in the swag bags for the Folsom Chamber of Commerce's H.E.R. Conference — which promotes leadership for women in business.”
She said when the cookie-buying project began, the company purchased 75 boxes, and their numbers have grown over the years.
“Last year we bought 800 boxes,” she said. “We never know from year to year how many boxes we will end up buying.”
In April 2023, the shop posted to Facebook a photo of 750 boxes in piles after buying 10 boxes each from “the girls who bravely made their sales pitch.”
This year, Shannon said a majority of the cookies will go to Blue Star Moms, a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting the welfare of American troops. The repair shop has purchased 190 boxes in presales so far, but girls typically sell to the Shannons after they’ve picked up their cookies, she said.
Presales started Jan. 12, according to Girl Scouts Heart of Central California (GSHCC).
Over 20,000 Girl Scout cookies were dropped off Saturday and Monday to Sutter Health Park so scouts might sell them in person at booths across the Sacramento area Friday.
Shannon said the business politely asks parents to wait on the other side of the office, so the girls can feel independent and strong in delivering their pitch.
“By appearing in person and talking to a stranger, girls develop the strength of character that the Girl Scouts organization is trying to instill,” she said. “The guaranteed purchase takes some of the risk out of it, but the girls are required to give their pitch and engage in conversation.”
Company employees consume some boxes the shop purchases, too.
Shannon said the cookies are chalked up as one of the benefits working for the repair shop, and the staff’s favorites include Tagalongs, Trefoils and Thin Mints.
“We would be lying if we didn't admit to eating many of the cookies ourselves,” she said. “Somehow the boxes seem to sneak out of the office once delivery has started and we find empties in trash cans throughout the shop.”
Evangeline Scott’s Reliance Home Loans
Evangeline Scott, a mortgage broker with Reliance Home Loans on Glenn Drive, said the company has purchased roughly 1,000 boxes since they started buying in bulk in 2018.
Scott told ABC10 on Monday that the number of sales pitches she received this year might have decreased due to an online sales push.
If online sales is an avenue that proves successful for any particular girl scout, then they may use that to sell cookies, but there is not an overall push from the organization for scouts to sell cookies in an online medium, according to the GSHCC.
Scott posted in a community Facebook group a notice for scouts to come sell.
“Girl Scouts, come on down to the office; give us your best pitch,” Scott said in the post. “No, mom and dad, it cannot be you. And, we’re going to buy a minimum of three boxes of Girl Scout cookies from you.”
Scott said the business distributes the cookies to the Folsom Police Department and Blue Star Moms.
“I do it to support the girls and community,” Scott said.
Where can you get Girl Scout cookies?
Local girl scouts in the greater Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto regions will begin making cookies available for purchase in front of stores starting Friday and lasting until Sunday, March 17, according to Susan Willson, a GSHCC spokeswoman.
“Each of the troops is establishing their own goals, their own business program and communications,” Willson said.
GSHCC offers a cookie finder feature on the Girl Scouts' website, which allows users to type in their zip code to see the cookies being sold in their community closest to them, she said. This feature is also accessible by texting “cookies” to 59618.
More than 8,000 local Girl Scouts will participate in the cookie program this year, according to a GSHCC news release.
"Entrepreneurship remains one of Girl Scouts’ most powerful program pillars,” said GSHCC CEO Linda Farley in a statement. “Beyond the goal setting, money-management and decision-making skills these girls learn, they also make connections with their community, develop friendships with their sister Girl Scouts, express creativity and build their capacity to be leaders.”
