The walk to the Lamplight Room on Fourth Street was about 10 minutes from Allen Street — in the opposite direction of everything central to Tombstone.

It required anyone who wanted to eat its authentic Mexican food to cross Freemont Street, a road that has played scene to two pedestrian deaths in recent weeks.

According to Sylvia Prysant, the owner of the Lamplight Room, the ability to draw crowds from central Tombstone required her to hand out fliers on Allen Street.

“The bottom line is that if you’re off Allen Street and you can’t advertise you get no business,” she said. “On days where it was packed in town I’d be lucky to get three or four tables for lunch (without advertising on Allen Street).”

Prysant handed out fliers to visitors that gave them something tangible to look at. The fliers enabled potential customers to compare prices and made them aware of the restaurant that lay off the beaten path most Tombstone tourists follow. Now, it is closed for good and Prysant is facing a foreclosure in which she will hand her property over to the bank on Jan. 19.

“I’ve lost $30,000 because the City Council and mayor were denying me my First Amendment rights,” Prysant said.

Prysant’s monetary losses are well documented.

The reasons for those losses remain debatable due to the continued success of numerous businesses that operate in nearly the same condition and location as the Lamplight Room previously did.

“I stay out of all that (advertising), it’s not my concern,” said Gordon Anderson, the owner of the Larian Motel. “The Larian is doing fine, nothing has fundamentally changed but we’re still doing well  (in the uncertain economic times).”

According to Anderson, good customer service, clean rooms and consistency have been the key to his continued success despite his business’ location across Freemont Street.

“On any given night I go by the Larian and there’s a no-vacancy sign up,” said Patrick Greene, the executive director of the Tombstone Chamber of Commerce. “He (Anderson) has responded to the business climate with free Wi-Fi and large rooms.”

Greene cited the Larian, along with the Sagebrush Inn and Frontier Floral as businesses across Freemont Street that have continued to have consistent success despite the economic climate.

Bonnie Hendrickson of Frontier Floral decorated the Christmas tree in the Chamber of Commerce, adding a personal touch to her business interactions that has garnered her a loyal clientele in Cochise County, Greene added.

It is these simple details that can make a difference when times are tough.

“Businesses have to be able to adapt,” Greene said. “Business is fickle, one can struggle and another can succeed, but our mission (at the Chamber) is to bring people in — period.”

There are certainly good seasons for business and bad seasons for business. Although visitor traffic is up 11 percent in Tombstone, people have not been spending money like they have in the past, Greene added.

The inability of certain businesses to advertise on Allen Street has only further inhibited their attempts to stay afloat in an economy that has been steadily trying to pull them under for the past few years.

With that understood, there are still business tactics available to those who wish to acclimate to the new regulations in town.

“This week we brought in a business consultant beginning (Monday) and going through Friday,” Greene said. “Businesses who participated previously have seen a serious jump in sales.”

The presentation is called “Strategic Persuasion” and focuses on the basics of sales and dives deeper into advanced sales in attempts to increase the chances of success for businesses in Tombstone no matter their location.

However, promotional sales presentations arrived in Tombstone a few months too late for the Lamplight Room as those doors have been closed for good.

“The Chamber understands the Lamplight’s frustration with regards to (advertising on) Allen Street,” Greene said. “But based on information received here, there are other factors that may have played into her inability to maintain an ongoing business.”