Couple to open Protagonist Books & Coffee in Dryden

Amber and Sam Gellar-Smith are both authors.

The married couple loves to surround themselves with books. Amber has been an established author for 11 years, writing young adult and middle-grade novels. Sam recently co-wrote a novel with Amber that is set for release in November.

As they continue to write, Amber and Sam are in the process of opening a bookstore and coffee shop, Protagonist Books & Coffee, at 8 W. Main St. in the village of Dryden. The goal is to open its doors in the first week of September.

The couple stumbled upon vacant space in the area, a space Sam called an “architecturally gorgeous storefront.” After engaging with community members and local business owners, they knew the location was the right one for a bookstore and coffee shop.

“We’ve always had that dream to open our own bookstore,” Sam said. “We jumped feet first into opening it.”

Amber and Sam, who have lived in Dryden since the spring of 2024, began their journey in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sam was born and raised in Charlotte, while Amber is originally from Buffalo.

Amber lived in Charlotte for 15 years, and the pair have been a couple for nine years. The couple was set on making Charlotte their permanent home, but a change in North Carolina’s laws made it difficult for them to live comfortably in the area.

One of them was Senate Bill 49, or the “Don’t Say LGBTQ+” bill, which was enacted in August 2023 and enforced as an anti-LGBTQ+ curriculum censorship and school policy law. Once that was in place, the married couple felt too nervous to hold hands in restaurants or other public areas.

“We realized this is not a place we want to live to build a community and a life anymore,” Sam said.

The final straw came when Amber, who as an author would visit English classes at schools in North Carolina, was told she was not allowed to mention she has a wife.

“I came home feeling very defeated and also angry,” Amber said. “That’s when Sam and I sat down and figured out where we wanted to move.”

Amber and Sam originally thought of moving to the Finger Lakes area in order to be closer to family in Buffalo.

“We picked Ithaca originally to check out, but we fell in love with Dryden,” Sam said. “It’s an incredible village. We feel like we’re part of a larger group here that provides plenty of support.”

Amber and Sam were determined to open their own business. Now, Protagonist Books & Coffee is close to becoming a reality.

“We’ve been simultaneously thinking about opening a bookstore for a long time, but this is very spontaneous,” Amber said. “Everything came to us organically. We decided to go with it, and the more we talked to people, it was something they wanted here too.”

Brainstorming a name for their business started when Amber and Sam were having lunch at the Village Taqueria and Grill in Dryden.

“We wanted it to have a literary connotation,” Amber said, noting they wanted to include a cat in the name.The couple has six cats, so the original plan was to have a designated bookstore cat. They realized, however, if they serve coffee they couldn’t have a bookstore cat.

Since both write fiction, the couple also wanted the business name to align with the genre.

“Protagonist seemed to be a great fit for it,” Amber said. “We’re going to be a fiction-focused store, but we love the idea of building a community around a story in general. Whether it’s non-fiction or true life, or novels in our case, we always feel like stories are centered around that main character or the protagonist. That’s sort of what led us to the name.”

On the bookstore side of the business, Amber and Sam will strive to help customers find authors and books that are similar to the ones they have read in the past.

“We want to be able to offer a service where they say, ‘Hey, we like this author’ and ask what we would suggest for their next read,” Sam said. “We’re going to be able to pull them something aligns, but something they normally don’t get from a local author.”

The business will have full coffee service, Sam said, with an espresso setup and coffee products provided by Copper House Coffee in Ithaca. The shop will also provide chai teas and products from local bakeries.

Sam noted they’re looking to host author signings and readings at the bookstore, along with giving groups an opportunity to meet at their business. The couple recently exposed and renovated a stone wall from 1852, which was plastered for decades, and will now be a display for local artists.

Amber noted the storefront’s tagline is “Find your story,” which makes it a “carefully curated, and fictional and memoir-heavy” bookstore that includes diverse authors and voices.

“We really want to be a third space for the community where people can come and really build friendships, support systems and have a sense of belonging,” Amber said, “but be surrounded by the idea of stories, books and connecting.