TUCSON, Ariz. — It's the time of the year when, on any given Saturday, you can find a smiling Girl Scout with a table full of cookies outside your neighborhood grocery store.
For sisters Ari and Marley Begay, those booths are the focus of their weekend.
“I normally do at least one booth on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday," said Ari Begay. "They’re at least three hours long, but they don’t feel that long.”
Ari's in her eighth year taking part in Girl Scouts' century-old cookie-selling tradition. The back of her khaki vest is covered in colorful patches boasting hundreds of boxes sold over the year. In 2025, Ari says she sold over 1,300 boxes.
Both her older sister and younger sister are selling this year, too. For serious sellers like the Begay sisters, business goes beyond their weekend grocery store booths.
“During the day, I have my business cards all around me," Marley Begay said. "So then I can sell cookies while I’m like doing my homework or something.”
Marley is in her fourth year of selling cookies. She's able to use business cards and websites that Girl Scouts of America helps set up.
“Back in our day—our youth— we used to go through neighborhoods and sell door-to-door, occasionally at a grocery store," said Kristen Garcia-Hernandez. "But we know now that humans are online and the community’s online.”
She says about 15% of all cookie sales are made online, but even in-person sales have transformed to keep up with modern consumers. Now, Girl Scouts take Apple Pay and credit card payments.
With changing times also come changing prices. Classic cookie boxes are sold for $6 per box, with gluten-free and specialty boxes priced at $7 each. Garcia-Hernandez says the price increase still goes to a good cause.
“With inflation, prices have increased," she said. "Yes, it’s $6 a box versus $4 or $5 that you’d buy inside the grocery store, but those boxes inside the grocery store don’t provide incredible experiences to girls.”
Cookie profits help girls with uniforms, camp costs and more. This year, Ari's troop plans to go camping at the beach in San Diego with their earnings, while Marley's troop will hike part of the Grand Canyon.
But the rewards of the cookie-selling process start far before the trips through the lessons and life-long skills learned at the little grocery store booth.
“In the future, yes, you will get no, and if you don’t have that experience of no, then it’s going to be harder to deal with,” said Ari Begay.
“If I was on my own, I could start my own business because I already know all of the things I have to do,” Marley Begay added.
