Josh Wexler and Anne Jordan Blanton

Books are taking over the home of Josh Wexler and Jordan Blanton.  There are books lining the walls, books on the floors, books in hallways, and books filling the closets.  Many are part of their personal library, but more than 500 have piled up in anticipation of the opening of their would-be book vending business.

Josh and Jordan both worked at used bookstores in New York after college.  In August 2001, they moved together to New Orleans, where Jordan grew up and where her parents still live.  Their plan was to turn their literary passion and breadth of reading into their own business.  Because they didn’t have enough money to open an actual bookstore, they decided to begin a business vending books on the street.  Then, if it was successful, they could eventually open their own store.  They loved the idea of becoming neighborhood booksellers.  They envisioned their stand as a community fixture, someplace regular customers would stop on their way home from work or on other errands to pick up another book and chat about the relative merits of the previous one.