Savannah, GA Bans Girl Scout Cookie Sales
Girl Scouts banned from selling their cookies, say it isn’t so! But that’s what’s happened in Savannah, Georgia at the home of the organization’s founder Janette Low. Low founded the Girl Scouts in March of 1912 and since then the Low Home, considered a national landmark, has been host to cookie sales by the local troop for decades.
But a complaint last year ended the longtime practice despite pleas by City Alderman Van Johnson for the city council to consider a variance to allow temporary sales during cookie season, which only happens the first few months of the year.
“Juliette Low brings thousands of tourists from around the country. Juliette Low is known for Girl Scouts, and Girl Scouts are known for cookies,” Johnson said. “Let’s be reasonable. Let them sell their cookies.”
Randolph Scott, the city’s zoning administrator, conducted an investigation into the matter trying to find a solution. Hoping there would be some private space between the home and the sidewalk they looked into allowing the Scouts to sell from a small courtyard on the side of the house, but fire marshals determined they would be blocking an exit route from the home.
“I know it doesn’t look good,” Scott told The Savannah Morning News. “However, other businesses won’t care if it’s the Girl Scouts or March of Dimes. They’re going to say, ‘Why can’t I sit out front and solicit business?”‘
Jan McKinney, who heads product sales for the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, says “It’s important that the girls learn the larger lesson of the change. The cookie sales are intended to teach the girls money management, public speaking, customer service and business ethics.
“We try to teach them that in business you have to adjust to things that happen, adapt to the market and follow the law,” she said. “It’s a real-world experience.”
The executive director of the Low house, Fran Harold, said tourists loved buying cookies from the girls at the home.
“It’s kind of sad for the girls, too,” she said. “There’s nothing cuter than some little Brownie Girl Scout selling cookies on the sidewalk in front of the Juliette Low house.”
This article was written by: Brenda Mallard
