Caroline Carlson | Daily Press For some, holiday shopping is family affair. From left. Amy Martin, Ayana Snouwaert, Patty DeGrave and Enley Roberts did some last minute Christmas shopping in Escanaba earlier this week.

ESCANABA — With the shopping days until Christmas coming to a close, some local residents are at local stores shopping for last minute gifts.

Many holiday shoppers seem to want to shop closer to home. Others mentioned this season being more about relationships than things.

Amy Martin only had one more gift to get and was now shopping in the mall for Christmas outfits Tuesday in Escanaba. “I haven’t had time until now to get together to shop with family,” she said.

Martin’s mom, Patty DeGrave agreed. “You know when it is every year, but somehow it just gets away from you,” said DeGrave, who was out for a day of shopping with her daughter and two grandchildren.

Candace Curran was doing some holiday shopping at Glik’s in the Delta Plaza Mall in Escanaba. She said she’s shopping last minute because she hasn’t really left the house this season until now due to COVID-19. An appointment got Curran out of Menominee County and over to Escanaba. “I’m starting and ending today,” she said, adding she prefers to shop locally rather than in chain stores.

Shopping locally and leaving stocking stuffers for the last-minute seemed to be a common practice this year. Darla Pardon was shopping for stocking stuffers in Meijer, and was happy to see everyone wearing their masks and the store sanitizing shopping carts.

Rebecca Casey, of Escanaba, was also shopping at Meijer. She said she’s normally done shopping for Christmas gifts by now, but always needs to run out last minute to get something she forgot. Casey shops locally as well, and said she’s found many deals locally that are better than shopping on Amazon.