Yes, there are many advantages to a community bank or credit union. However, there is one problem that outweighs all those benefits.
No ATMS!
If you get an account at a huge bank like Chase, Bank of America, or HSBC, there are branches and ATMs everywhere you go. A community bank is fine if you're the kind of person who stays in one place and never moves. If you travel a lot, a local bank is useless.
What would be nice is if we could get the benefits of a local bank, but have branches all over the country/world.