Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Girl Scout troops throughout Miami continue to sell their cookies, but with certain limitations. Although traditional cookie sales cannot happen due to the circumstances, the troops try to make the best of the situation.

Troop 736 sells solely to their friends and family because they cannot sell at Publix or any other public places as they normally would. 

“One thing is usually we are required to sell a certain amount, and we get it over with selling outside of Publix, but not as many troops are allowed to do that. Our troop is not allowed to sell outside of Publix, so instead we have to do it on our own and sell to only our friends and family,” Miami Palmetto Senior High sophomore and Girl Scout Gaby Abreu said.

Because Troop 736 now faces limitations regarding who they can sell to, they only sell the most popular types of cookies among their customers.

“We purposefully chose the two [cookies] we knew our friends would like the most, Thin Mints and Samoas,” Abreu said. “Everyone loves Thin Mints.”

Although selling cookies remains a big part of the Girl Scout experience, community service projects are equally significant, especially to Gaby’s twin sister, Sophia Abreu. 

“Girl Scouts are more focused on community service than just cookies,” Sophia said. “This year, since we can’t go out as often, we are doing a lot less community service activities, which sucks because I really want to go out in the community and help.”

Outside of Troop 736, cookie sales have decreased significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Girl Scouts have even decided to not sell at all during this time, and those who do sell must adjust their inventory. 

“We are not selling as many cookies as we usually would because we cannot do the big sales; we have to minimize it a lot,” Sophia said. 

Whereas a year ago whole troops would meet up for monthly meetings, now, not all the Girl Scouts can meet at once. Nowadays, many troops struggle to find a time and a safe place to schedule their large gatherings.

“Usually we would meet up at a restaurant or at some kind of fun place, and we would have 10 to 15 Girl Scouts at our meetings. But this one is probably going to have five to six, Sophia said. 

“This meeting is only going to be with half of the troop; we will not be able to sit next to our friends and do stuff together like we used to,” Gaby said.

Despite limitations on several typical Girl Scouts activities, troops throughout Miami continue to sell locally and some troops may still be found selling cookies outside of grocery stores.