Sip 'N Dip and Ocean State Job Lot

Two places that I drive by on the regular now that I'm in Rhode Island are Sip 'N Dip Donuts and Ocean State Job Lot. Both are puzzling to a fresh face like mine. Sip 'N Dip has a handful of locations in the Bristol/Warren area and one in East Providence at 497 Warren Ave, but I can't seem to find them anywhere else so I am forced to assume that it is a small chain present only in Rhode Island. What is Sip 'N Dip you may ask? Well it is apparently a coffee spot that serves pastries, some sandwiches, and smoothies- not unlike a Dunkin' Donuts. The coffee is good, I may venture to say that I actually prefer how it tastes compared to the taste of DD. The price-point is similar to Dunk's. Sip 'N Dip also has tons of flavor combinations for iced and hot coffee, similar to Marylou's. Since it is in a largely Portuguese populated area they have some Portuguese items that I'm totally unfamiliar with.

The downside to this chain is that it seems to be lacking in the marketing department. The locations are pretty, well, drab. Plain buildings with plain interiors and no color scheme to speak of doesn't exactly welcome people in. In fact, I probably wouldn't have stopped specifically because it is not visually appealing, were it not for the huge crowds of people I see going through in the morning for breakfast. Also, I constantly see my co-workers with the big iced coffee's from Sip 'N Dip in styrofoam cups. I asked if I could just have the coffee in my own, reusable cup, but the girl clearly thought I was nuts and said that she was unsure if she was allowed to do that. Sorry Environment, I tried.

  Now, Ocean State Job Lot is the self-proclaimed Home of Adventure Shopping. What makes it adventurous? Well, it could be the tall and barely organized bulk boxes of products lining the shelves that make for extreme bargain hunting and deal diving. It could be adventurous because of the crowd that bargain hunting tends to draw and that you have to elbow through for the deals. I mean, this may be one of my new favorites, don't get me wrong. It reminds me of a cross between Big Lots and Christmas Tree Shops. The building itself is pretty stark and the marketing is mostly handwritten or printed out on a backroom printer. But everything is so CHEAP. There are household appliances, bath products, clothes, seasonal decorations, paper goods, and food although I think I'd skip that aisle.