According to the most recent quarterly report from the Capital Access Network's data services division, despite a holiday boost, brick and mortar retailers and restaurants experienced a year-over-year card sales decline in 2009, a continuation of a trend that dates back to 2007 for retailers and 2008 for restaurants.

"While we are heartened that the rate of year-over-year card sales decline slowed in Q4 2009, the economy continues to punish America's Main Street businesses," says CAN President and CEO Glenn Goldman.

The report suggests that same-store credit and debit card sales continued to decline in the last quarter of 2009, a 12.15 percent drop from the last quarter of 2008. This is a smaller rate of decline from that of the third quarter of 2008 to 2009.

The last quarter was the ninth in a row during which overall year-over-year same-store card sales declined.

Goldman expects that many small businesses have already "adjusted their business models to account for lower card spend in their stores."

According to a Sentient Decision Science survey, 32 percent of consumers report using their credit cards less than they did a year ago.