Want Thin Mints? You’ll be surprised how many leftover Girl Scout cookies are in Tri-Cities

Tri-Citians apparently have a extra hankering for Girl Scout cookies.

While 15 million boxes of Tagalongs, Samoas and Thin Mints went unsold across the nation this year, there are no extra boxes lying around these parts.

The Girl Scouts of Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho had a record-breaking year and has only 44 leftover boxes on hand, said Brian Newberry, CEO the council with headquarters in Spokane.

And one Tri-Cities girl in particular helped make that happen.

Addison Lint, an incoming freshman from Kennewick, sold more than 3,100 boxes of cookies. She was the third best in the council of 2,000 Girl Scouts and one of the Top 50 best sellers in the U.S.

The 14-year-old who has been involved in the program for nearly six years is shy one. So timid in fact, that while on the phone with the Herald, she softly relayed what she had to say about her selling success through her mom, Tara Burling.

Addison is a true introvert, said Burling.

“But when she sets up her booth she turns into a salesperson,” her mom said, noting they spent about 75 hours selling cookies in person in March and April.

Addison’s big driving factor is that in addition to earning credit toward Girl Scout camps and conventions, she earns 50 cents a box toward an academic scholarship.

As long as she remains with the Girl Scouts in her junior and senior years, Addison will be able to use that money toward any college or post-secondary accredited program she attends.

The two other best-selling Girl Scouts in the council were from Yakima and Clarkston, but second-grader Hadley Caton of Kennewick was close behind Addison with nearly 2,800 boxes sold.

A top selling council

That helped the council to be the third-biggest selling council nationally and, along with New York City, was one of only two councils in the U.S. to be in the black in cookie sales this year.

“I think it was the fact that people hadn’t seen Girl Scout cookies,” Newberry said. “They were attuned to wanting to buy Thin Mints. Tri-Cities citizens came out and they really hit it out of the park.”

Newberry said that last year was a bust because cookie sales that typically start up in March and end in April was at the beginning of the COVID pandemic when everything shut down.

While online cookie sales were extended through August — sales didn’t pick up to where they should be because the region remained in Phase 1.

However, this year the council sold 843,000 boxes and people bought nearly 36,000 boxes to donate to military and health health workers.

“When you buy cookies, you directly help that girl and her troop,” Newberry said.