Chain shops vs Independent shops

I'm not entirely ashamed to say that I love Waterstones. There are absolutely NO independent book shops in my area, that's across 4 fairly sizeable towns. All there is to offer are Publisher's clearance, Borders, WH Smith & Waterstones.

I adore manga but it's an expensive hobby to keep, the books are about £10 a go, at Waterstones I can get them 3 for 2 at £6 a go instead plus 3 points for every pound on my points card (I'm up to about £6's worth of points now, WOO!)

I know that big chains are essentially evil, but I can't really support an independent shop that doesn't exist. If I intend to buy second hand I like to use ebay or charity shops.

I suppose the big question is, in the time of recession (and given that I spend at least 40% of my earnings on books) can people afford to take a moral stance on this issue? Do I spend £20 of my hard earned cash on perhaps 2 books from an independent shop or get 3 or 4 from Waterstones (with the bonus points for my reward card as a bonus) OR even get even more, 6, 7, perhaps even 8 from ebay. I nearly cried when the last charity shop in my town centre closed, they used to do offers like 10 books for a pound. So, as you can imagine, I have a stack of books which I'm working my way through that I had bought in its last week.

If there was an independent retailer in my area, I'd likely support it as best I could, especially on self-published books which sadly, you can't find in most chain shops. As it stands, I'll likely continue accumulating points on my waterstones card.

I should just open my own shop & make myself a performance artist so I can smoke inside... *sigh*