Am I imagining this dichotomy between political ideology and practices?

I would like to start out by saying that I recognize that this question is based upon a local observation and generalizations. It’s spawned from observations of coworkers and friends that just hit me. It is not intended to be a flame question. I mentioned that I was doing most of my holiday shopping either online or from the small businesses near my house.

I have noticed that most of my politically outspoken, right-leaning coworkers, friends and acquaintances have a tendency to shop big box retail rather than smaller local businesses and restaurants. They go to Starbucks instead of local coffee shops, shop large national grocery stores rather than local or regional, buy appliances from national chain stores rather than mom-and-pop appliance businesses that have been around for ages. They go to the mall for jewelry purchases rather than local jewelers.

Their buying patterns seem to defy the “pro-business” and “state/local” rhetoric that they espouse. The explanation given is usually that they shop price, but I’ve found that smaller shops often have the same or lower prices than big box on many occasions, and certainly have better customer service.

Perhaps it’s just these people? Or is it true elsewhere? Who shops small local businesses over large chains?