Shepherdstown businessman Michael Raubertas, owner of Four Seasons Books on German Street, scans a graphic novel for purchase. Four Seasons Books is one of several German Street retailers with an extensive online store.

In the information age, it should come as no surprise that Shepherdstown – known for the variety of quaint shops along German street – offers an equally varied online shopping experience.

With the holidays now upon us, there is no better time to get online and explore Shepherdstown’s digital offerings. Shopping online is an excellent way to hunt for bargains, even locally, and for those with far flung friends and family, it may be the easiest way to send them a gift.

Local brick-and-mortar retail locations figure prominently in the digital commerce of Shepherdstown. Take, for instance, the online shopping experience at The Skin Care Shop, a local boutique that sells, as the name suggests, skin care and makeup products.

In the real world, its address is 123 W. German St., online it’s theskincareshop.com. Once on the homepage, shoppers can browse a full gallery of options in a standard online shopping format. The site lists more than 300 products for sale online, all orders over $200 get free shipping. Shipping charges on all other orders is just $9.95.

Those with young ones in tow may find it difficult to get out of the house or to arrange childcare for an extended holiday shopping trip. But if you need to buy gifts for a young child, then Shepherdstown also provides an online outlet in the form of Lullaby Lu, a children’s boutique located at 126 W. German St., and online at lullabylu.com.

The Lullaby Lu online store features 34 different brands of childrens products and apparel, from Baby Cie to Zutano Itzy Bitzy, all designed for children ages 1 day to 10 years. Bargain hunters will be pleased to find a “Sale!” category with a rotating option of specially marked merchandise available at discount.

Local bookstore Four Seasons Books also has an extensive online shopping experience, featuring, again, the familiar digital shopping cart and online checkout which seems to have become the standard. Four Season’s excels in providing helpful additional information on their products such as staff recommendations, noting local and national best-sellers and a feature which allows you to brows sample pages. Four Seasons Books can be found online at fourseasonsbooks.com.

Shepherdstown is also home to a small community of independent online retailers. It’s a mixture of hobbyists and dedicated professionals manufacturing unique hand-made goods which are then sold on online DIY retail sites like Etsy.com

Take for instance Shepherdstownian Pang Tubhirun. She makes hand-crafted, quirky, stuffed animals, pins and “in-betweens” which she sells at Etsy.com under the name PrettyLittleFings. Lacking a brick-and-mortar location is no problem for her. Instead, she blogs incessantly about her creations, frequently giving sneak peeks at the new batch of plushies on her blog .

There is also Shepherdstownian Lauren Beacham. She also runs an Etsy.com store under the name JerseyMaids where she crafts and sells hand-made necklaces, earrings and photography. Her work has garnered attention in national media outlets and as far west as Los Angeles.