With Christmas less than a week away, local merchants have advice for those who are still shopping for gifts. Jane Storm at the Quimper Mercantile Company is no stranger to last-minute shoppers, since her store boasts a selection ranging from toys for little kids to kitchenware for their parents. Marion Lodwick, owner of Abracadabra in Port Townsend, also has seen an influx of folks frantically searching for the right gift before the 12 days of Christmas wrap up. Both agreed starting with the basics — who the gift recipient is, whether they’re a man or a woman, a child or an adult, and what interests they might have — can help guide the process. “Are they into silly things?” Lodwick asked. “Are they into dragons or dinosaurs? Do they like information? Do they like to play games?” From there, Lodwick finds it easier to narrow down whether “crazy socks,” puppets, board games or puzzles might be more appropriate. Storm cited the number of items in her store’s camping department and housewares as potential gifts. “There are a lot of little accessories that make for good gifts because they’re useful and utilitarian, but they’re the sorts of things that people don’t tend to buy for themselves,” Storm said. “That way, they’re not just going to sit on people’s shelves.” Lodwick added that utilitarian gifts, such as mugs, are useful when shopping for an acquaintance, whom you might not know as well as a close loved one. Storm and Lodwick said gifts with unique character have their own appeal. While Storm has witnessed the popularity of Native American ceramics and books about Native American culture in her store, Lodwick carries jewelry from the Pacific Northwest, and one of her employees makes scented candles that are sold in the store. Both said locally sourced gifts not only support the economy but tend to be seen as novelties to those living in other parts of the country. To wrap gifts distinctively and on a budget, shoppers might consider scarves, old maps and sheet music, and even reused and decorated paper bags, or copies of the newspaper. The Quimper Mercantile Company is located at 1121 Water St., and Abracadabra is located at 936 Water St.