How to Shop Locally

You already know a lot of the top-line destinations for local gift-buying: Valley Cheese and Wine, for instance, or The Writer’s Block (not just for books, but for quirk-infused items of all sorts). Buying in such places helps keep your dollars local. Here are a few more worth checking out as the shopping doomsday clock ticks down toward Dec. 25.

Graze by Days: Custom charcuterie boards and food boxes. One glance at their Insta page and you’ll know why they’re on this list.

Las Vegas Lifestock: Your family grillmeister might appreciate these locally grown pork products. The pigs are raised sustainably on a farm near Apex, and fed with leftover food from the Strip.

Happy Ending Chocolate: This local place had us at “10-pack of custom ice cream tacos.” Pretty much 100 percent of our gift list would be happy to find that in the freezer on Christmas morning.

Cozymeal: If you’d rather gift an experience than foodstuff to someone who likes to eat, here’s a fine place to start. Cozymeal offers cooking classes and food tours — perfect for the gregarious foodie in your life.

Clay Arts Vegas: This place is good for an experience or an object. Gifting a pottery class just might introduce someone to their next passion. Or buy a one-of-a-kind artisanal mug, cup, bowl, vessel, or squiggly ceramic doodad in the gallery store. But hurry: They close up shop Dec. 20 for the rest of the year.

Neon Cactus Vintage: A body-positive vintage clothing store in Fergusons Downtown — for the person in your life with their own funky style.

Office of Collecting and Design: “Offbeat charm” is the phrase that comes to mind when looking at the artsy knickknacks and curios on the website of this hard-to-define Commercial Center store.

Local Oasis: A Charleston Boulevard mainstay for quirky gifts, many created by local artists. The store that stuff a thousand stockings.

11th Street Records: For the music lover into vinyl, there’s no place like it in town.