Streamwood Girl Scouts sell $67,450 worth of cookies

The 14 Girl Scouts of Troop 643 in Streamwood may only be in the fifth grade, but their annually improving salesmanship was up to selling $67,450 worth of cookies this year.

That's 16,605 boxes - up from about 13,000 last year and 11,000 the year before, Troop Leader Joanna Mele said.

Their basic methodology may be the same as many other troops - selling door-to-door and online and setting up booths at stores - but it's their people skills that are probably most responsible for their high sales numbers, Mele said.

Many people walk past or tell them no, but the Scouts have developed funny lines and witty comebacks that make prospective customers literally come back.

With Streamwood as their base, they spread out to places in Bartlett, Elgin, Carpentersville, Huntley and Geneva to sell the cookies over six weeks this winter.

The money they raised will help the troop pay for camping and other activities this year - especially a trip to San Francisco in a few weeks.

Five of the girls, who sold 2,500 boxes each, also won trips to Disney World paid for by the Girl Scouts organization. Two of those girls sold more than 3,000 boxes and are getting an additional day at Disney World as their reward.

With the troop likely to stay together into high school, there's already an expectation that the years ahead could bring even greater success for their cookie sales, Mele said.