When Rachel Benjamin received an email last year that there was a package for her at the Broward Hall front desk, she expected a small delivery.
Instead, she found 15 boxes of her favorite Girl Scout Cookies tightly secured in bubble wrap.
“I could deal with this,” the 20-year-old UF biochemistry sophomore said.
With the 97th Girl Scout cookie season well underway, UF students will do anything to get a hold of their favorite cookies. Fortunately for Gainesville residents like Benjamin, cookie booth sales begin in town today.
Mary Anne Jacobs, CEO of the local Girl Scouts council, said booth sales typically last about three weeks, depending on each troop’s schedule.
Cookie lovers can find nearby sales with the revamped Girl Scout Cookie Finder app, which allows users to locate the closest booth by entering their zip code.
In Gainesville, booth locations include the West Gate Publix, 125 SW 34th St., and the Haile Plantation Publix, 2755 SW 91st St.
Julie Hill, a UF graduate student and leader of Troop 1688, said with the first weekend of cookie booth sales coinciding with the start of UF’s Spring Break, students usually buy the $4 boxes of cookies on their way out of town.
Benjamin said she has about a box and a half of Lemonades left from the four her parents brought last week when they came up from South Florida for her birthday. Although she said she’s hoping there will be more waiting when she goes home for break, she might grab a box on the way.
“I love them,” she said. “No one will turn down a Girl Scout cookie.”
[A version of this story ran on page 3 on 2/28/2014 under the headline "Girl Scout Cookies on sale"]
