Local vs Corporate

Is it better to buy your commodity goods at giant corporate chains like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, knowing you're buying better quality products that are more "wholesome," to use that term loosely; or is it better, if you can, to buy your commodity goods locally, even if it means not buying organic or supporting the small-scale producers that seem to end up on the shelves of "health food" stores?

I thought I had reached clarity on this, but I'm having a hard time following-through with it. I decided a few weeks ago that it's better to buy locally and support local economy, even if it means giving your economic contributions to a mass-producer like Goya than a more holistic company like some (and I can't stress that enough) of the producers who stock Whole Foods shelves who don't operate under the umbrella of an MNC. Would I rather buy black beans in bulk? You bet. Would I rather buy them in a can from Amy's than from Goya? Of course. But I think that local economy trumps that concern. If I am buying "ethically," again a term I am using loosely for a lot of reasons, I am still supporting one of the fastest growing, union-busting, independent-grocer-crushing giants in the country. Yes I'm talking about Whole Foods. Ultimately I sleep easier at night knowing that money went to profit a local owner who might own another grocery store on the other side of town called "Fresh Foods 2" or something hoaky like that. At least I know the profits being made are going back into my community more efficiently than Whole Foods can do it.

But yeah, there is still a lot to be said for supporting producers and manufacturers who operate more ethically. The argument could be made that local business owners model themselves off of bigger corporate entities, and that if demand for Amy's vegan black bean burgers trumped Boca, local places would stock Amy's. But then how big will Amy's become, and for how long can they uphold their ethics while producing on that big of a scale? It all comes full circle in that sense.

I'd like to hear what you all think. If you have a few minutes, which you obviously do if you've read to this point, comment here with your thoughts on the issue. It's becoming a very important issue in what some people, including myself, see as the next necessary step in our economic evolution if we are to become a sustainable species: consuming more intelligently, and ultimately consuming much less.