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Last Saturday afternoon, Bethany Karn rifled through a display of earrings and necklaces in the Now & Then gift store in Old Town Takoma Park. While finding the perfect holiday gifts for her loved ones was at the top of her list, Karn was also on a mission to give back to her hometown businesses by buying as many of her gifts as possible in the city this year.

"You don't want vacant buildings and storefronts," she said, explaining her dedication to staying local for the holidays. "But it also has a lot to do with preserving the character and vibrancy in downtown Takoma Park. ... I live here because it's a walkable community with a vibrant town feel, but if we're not shopping here, the stores can't stay open."

With two businesses — the Savory Café on Carroll Avenue and the Drifting Nomad sandwich shop in the nearby Takoma neighborhood of Washington, D.C. — closing in the last month, the plight of the area's independently owned businesses is even more apparent. Just last week the City Council passed a resolution declaring December "Think Takoma — Buy Local" month, encouraging residents to shop where they live.

Aside from her goal to support area shops, Karn also faced the challenge confronted by every mother with a 13-year-old-daughter to shop for.

"She just got her ears pierced," Karn said, examining a particularly promising set of earrings for her daughter, Sonja Plungis. "So we're starting that whole adventure ... more things to buy."

At first, the idea of buying locally seems like simplicity itself. Karn finds just the right earrings, along with an adorable selection of baby toys for her friend's newborn, all within a mile of her house. Even Karn's mother, Karen Karn, who is visiting from Ohio, finds a stylish knit hat to keep her head warm and dry from the wintry weather outside. By the time they reach the Tranquil Soul boutique down the block on Westmoreland Avenue, Karn's "buy local" strategy hardly seemed like a challenge.

"You're going to have all of your shopping done, Bethany," Karen Karn tells her daughter, gesturing to the steadily growing bundle of gifts on her arm.

"Okay, so three kids have been mitten-ized, I've got the bracelets for the girlfriends," Karn ticks off from her mental checklist at the boutique's cash register. "Yeah, I'm ready to go."

Then, when Karn calls her husband to check the wish of her youngest son, 11-year-old Alexander Plungis, the "buy local" pledge hits its first snag. When Karn's children were younger, a simple trip to the nearby Fair Day's Play toy store on Carroll Avenue could easily have filled out the rest of their list, but now many of the children's interests have matured to video games and iPod accessories, neither of which is easy to come by in a locally owned business or shop.

The nearest suitable stores Karn could think of were only a short drive away in Bethesda, but she would likely resort to ordering the more elaborate electronic gadgets and add-ons from an online catalog. Even so, Karn decides to try the local toy store to round out her tour de force of local shopping.

After a few minutes perusing the aisles with help from the store's owner, Lisa Beth Ripkin, Karn makes her way to the counter to place an order for a board game that her oldest son, 15-year-old Mik Plungis, has asked for this year.

"I could get Beatles Trivial Pursuit at Borders," she says as she leaves the store. "But I'd rather have her order it for me so I can buy it here."

As the two head back to Karn's car after an afternoon shopping in old town, a decent number of people were still out walking around, hefting local store bags and peeking into shop windows.

Even as the day draws to a close for Karn, Ripkin's appreciative farewell seems to follow her down Carroll Avenue: "Thanks for being a local shopper!"