According to the NLC's new survey of 400 city officials, 57% said the pace of store closings is "either worse or much worse than it was last year."

This trend has also accelerated in larger metropolitan areas that are more sales tax-reliant versus cities that generate a majority of their revenue from sources such as property and income taxes, the report showed.

While many large chain stores such as Circuit City, Linens 'N Things and Fortunoff have buckled under the recession, 63% of city officials polled said it's the locally-owned Main Street sellers - mom-and-pop type stores - who are being hit the hardest in their area by the economic downturn.

McFarland called this a "silent problem" with wide-reaching repercussions.

"The media tends to focus on the bigger retailers that are going out of business, but the small sellers are just as vital to cities," she said.

The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) estimates that about 73,000 stores - both public and private - will close in the first half of the year, doubling that number for the full year
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