I have felt your pain. I had a tack shop one block off of main street in my town for 5 or 6 years. It was like i was in a different state as far as the town doing anything for myself the other business's on that street. I had a customer stop one of the police one time and ask where my shop was. The cop didn't even know i was there and most of them got their hair cut at the barber shop next door. I never joined the chamber of commerce after i seen what my parents went through when the owed a business in the same town. It was a waste of money.
Ninety percent of my business came from out of town. Advertising in the local paper was a waste of money to (it comes out twice a week now, used to be once a week when we had two papers). At the time i had my shop in town the internet was just getting to where you could get on the internet locally. I did have good luck with advertising in a free Trader paper that went out to about 20 counties. A regular add worked better for me that a block add and was alot cheaper. You might want to try that if you have one in your area. Like they say word of mouth is your best advertising, but you have to be able to get customers in your store so they can tell other folks.