With the closing of Baxter Food Mart came the opening of a new spin on a traditional convenience store: Sips Market.
Located at 1035 Baxter St., Sips Market offers a wide variety of beverages, snacks and hot food options along with a unique atmosphere that aims to bring the community together.
Sips Market is a branch of Sip N Smoke, which is located in Hartwell, Georgia, and opened in Athens on Sept. 16. Co-owner Zahir Keshwani said Sips seeks to stand out from other convenience stores in the area through its approachability and nostalgic feel.
Keshwani said he wanted to create a “nice” environment for customers where they can feel “comfortable and safe.”
“We like being part of a community,” Keshwani said. “We want to give back as much as people give to us.”
Unlike traditional convenience stores, Sips not only sells food, drinks and other miscellaneous items, but also offers an in-person experience to customers where they can play pool or hang out with friends and watch a football game.
“I would love to have people from [The University of Georgia] and people from the neighborhood across the street just come here, play pool, hang out [and] watch sports,” Keshwani said. “We just want people to have a good time coming here…I want a spot for everyone, where no one feels unsafe and everyone feels welcome.”
Customers who come in to play pool or watch the game can purchase food and drinks in-store, including hot food, which will be served to them “counter style.”
Keshwani said Sips Market stands out from other convenience stores in the area because there is no other convenience store like it.
“I think our branding is a big part of it. We just look cool and our whole store setup, I think, is just different,” Keshwani said. “We’re just cool kids that grew up here…we know how to interact with people.”
Arsch Lakhani, co-owner of Sips and a UGA alum, said that it is a “cool feeling” to come back to Athens and own a business on Baxter Street after passing through it as a student.
“We’re like a one stop party shop. You can get anything you want here,” Lakhani said. “It’s not really a conventional gas station… we’re like a mini version of Buc-ee’s, almost.”
Sips not only serves traditional gas station food items, but also items such as patty melts, chicken tenders and a signature sauce, all of which Lakhani described as “kind of like grandma’s food.”
Sips Market is open from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, but Lakhani said they are thinking about extending its hours until 2 a.m. from Thursday through Saturday.
“Everyone’s more than welcome to come by, have a good time here, grab food, grab whatever you need,” Lakhani said. “The Athens experience is something like no other city or college can give, so we’re just trying to embody that as a store.”