Girl Scouts Eleanor Ford and Molly Montgomery, members of Bainbridge Island Troop 43861, display their personal favorites of the eight different kind of Girl Scout Cookies they were selling Sunday at the Bainbridge Safeway.

Eleanor said she likes Trefoils the best.

“They are like shortbread; they are simple yet sweet,” she said.

For Molly, it’s Samoas.

“They’ve got a lot of different flavors going on all at once, and it works,” Molly said.

The annual Girl Scout cookie sale started Friday, and runs for two more weeks.

Sales have been good so far, said Eleanor and Molly, both 13.

What’s the secret to selling cookies?

Eleanor: “Eating cookies while we sell the cookies.”

Molly: “I would tell you, but then I would have to kill you.”

In addition to their personal favs, the girls also had plenty of boxes of Do-si-dos, Thin Mints, Tagalongs, Toffee-tastic and Savannah Smiles for sale. And a new flavor, too: S’mores.

It’s estimated that 175 million boxes of Girl Scout Cookies are sold every year, with sales totaling more than $650 million. Thin Mints are the most popular kind, followed by Samoas.

According to Girl Scouts, the annual cookie sale program develops five skills for the girls who participate; goal-setting, decision-making, money management, people skills and business ethics.

(Brian Kelly | Bainbridge Island Review)