Jungle Jim's International Market, formerly Jungle Jim's Farmer's Market, is a large

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earli ...

Fairfield, Ohio Fairfield is a suburban city located in both Butler and Hamilton counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. Fairfield is located approximately 25 miles north of Cincinnati and is situated on the east bank of the Great Miami River. The population was ...

, with a satellite location in Union Township, Clermont County, both near Cincinnati. The main location has been described as a

theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

of food. Jungle Jim's offers one of the largest wine selections in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, live seafood tanks, and an in-store cooking school. Each week, the store is visited by about 82,000 shoppers, whom founder "Jungle" Jim Bonaminio calls "

foodie A foodie is a person who has an ardent or refined interest in food, and who eats food not only out of hunger but also as a hobby. The related terms " gastronome" and "gourmet" define roughly the same thing, i.e. a person who enjoys food for p ...

s". Many of the specialty foods in the store's Asian and

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

departments are difficult to find elsewhere in the

Greater Cincinnati The Cincinnati metropolitan area and also known as the Cincinnati Tri-State area, or Greater Cincinnati) is a metropolitan area centered on Cincinnati and including surrounding counties in the U.S. states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. The are ...

area, and customers have been known to drive from other cities for the store's wide variety of food.

History

In 1971, "Jungle" Jim Bonaminio set up a semi-permanent produce stand in a parking lot in Hamilton, Ohio. Over the next three years, Bonaminio moved the stand to several vacant lots throughout the area until he bought a plot of land. Due to the industrial zoning of the land, the city of Fairfield was reluctant to issue a permit for a commercial fruit and vegetable stand. After discussing an exception made for nearby fast food chain

Arthur Treacher's Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips is an American fast food seafood restaurant and former chain. At the peak of its popularity in the late 1970s, it had more than 800 stores. However, as of June 2021, there is only one stand-alone Arthur Treacher's l ...

, the city commission approved the permit. The first store opened in 1975 with 4,200 square feet of space. Bonaminio continued to expand the store, adding products at customer request and enlarging and re-arranging the store.

Theme

Jungle Jim's unusual displays throughout the store gives it the feeling of a theme park. At the entrance, animal replicas are accompanied by occasional roars and the splashing of a miniature waterfall in the background. Inside are several

animatronic Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy a ...

displays, such as a lion that sings

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

songs at intervals and a "rock band" composed of

General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...

cereal mascots. Several of the animatronics, such as the lion, a human character named Pedro, and a trio of blackbirds, are former Pizza Time Theatre animatronics (the lion character was known as "The King" at PTT, and served the same purpose of singing Elvis songs). The miniature storefronts in Jungle Jim's' European section represent the architectural styles of various countries, and the Mexican section is covered by what appears to be the

adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...

façade and wooden frame of a

cantina A cantina is a type of bar common in Latin America and Spain. The word is similar in etymology to " canteen", and is derived from the Italian word for a cellar, winery, or vault. In Italy, the word ''cantina'' refers to a room below the gro ...

. The hot sauce section is topped with a fire truck, the English section themed to

Sherwood Forest Sherwood Forest is a royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England, famous because of its historic association with the legend of Robin Hood. The area has been wooded since the end of the Last Glacial Period (as attested by pollen sampling cores ...

, and subtle humor is injected into many parts of the store, such as the trashcans once labeled "Jungle Junk," the "Adult Oriented Hot Sauces" section, and the restroom entrances disguised as Rumpke

portable toilet A portable or mobile toilet (colloquial terms: thunderbox, portaloo, porta-john or porta-potty) is any type of toilet that can be moved around, some by one person, some by mechanical equipment such as a truck and crane. Most types do not require ...

s. In 2007, the restrooms won the

Cintas Cintas Corporation () is an American corporation headquartered in Mason, Ohio which provides a range of products and services to businesses including uniforms, mats, mops, cleaning and restroom supplies, first aid and safety products, fire ex ...

Best Restroom in America contest. Before Jungle Jim's doubled in size in the late 1990s, the store featured flags from many countries that were positioned throughout the store and automatically waved back and forth, to give it an "international" feel.

Expansion

Around 2004, Jungle Jim's added a

strip mall A strip mall, strip center or strip plaza is a type of shopping center common in North America where the stores are arranged in a row, with a sidewalk in front. Strip malls are typically developed as a unit and have large parking lots in front. ...

on one side, including

Hallmark A hallmark is an official mark or series of marks struck on items made of metal, mostly to certify the content of noble metals—such as platinum, gold, silver and in some nations, palladium. In a more general sense, the term ''hallmark'' can al ...

and

CiCi's Pizza Cicis is an American chain of buffet restaurants based in Coppell, Texas, specializing in pizza. The company was founded in 1985, and started franchising by 1987. There are 299 franchised and corporately owned restaurants in 24 states. In November ...

. In 1998, the store purchased the former "Lion Country Safari" monorail trains from

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company. It was part of a larger effort to move and expa ...

. A large Jungle-themed station featuring a giant snake façade was constructed behind the store and a second station was constructed at the Oscar Event Center to allow for guests to experience the monorail. Original plans called for the monorail to complete a circuit around the property, however, this has never been completed and unused supports still remain around the property. In 2019, the store opened "The Oscar Station", a bourbon bar experience housed within the monorail station. In January 2020, an expansion of the front end of the store was announced, adding 17,000 square feet to the store and space for tenants, including Graeter's ice cream.

Eastgate Location

On April 1, 2005, Bonaminio signed a letter of intent to open a second, smaller location closer to Cincinnati, but by April 2007, the project was canceled due to a lack of progress at the site. On September 25, 2012, Jungle Jim's opened a second location at the former

bigg's Remke Markets is a chain of American supermarkets in the Cincinnati metropolitan area. History Remke Markets was founded in 1897 as a meat market in Covington, Kentucky, by William Remke, the supermarket has grown and now has 6 locations. Th ...

Place Mall in Eastgate.

The Oscar Event Center

The Oscar Event Center is a 34,100 sq. ft event space attached to Jungle Jim's International Market. Named after "Jungle" Jim's middle name, the event space opened in 2007. There are several venues within the event center: The Main Hall, The Lounge, The Outdoor Terrace, The Pub. The event space hosts several yearly events, including the International Craft Beer Festival, Weekend of Fire, International Wine Festival, Barrel-Aged Beer Bash, New Year New You, Big Cheese Festival, and Whiskey Night. Jungle Jim's has been featured on the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

show ''

Unwrapped ''Unwrapped'', also known as ''Unwrapped with Marc Summers'', is an American television program on Food Network that reveals the origins of sponsored foods. It first aired in June 2001 and is hosted by Marc Summers. The show leads viewers on tou ...

'', the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disne ...

show ''

Modern Marvels ''Modern Marvels'' is an American worldwide television series that formerly aired on the History Channel and is currently shown on Story Television. The program focuses on how technologies affect and are used in modern society. It is History's f ...

'', and

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show ''Good Morning America'', ''Ni ...

' ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. T ...

''.

References

External links

Jungle Jim's International MarketThe Oscar Event CenterPhotos of Jungle Jim's
at

Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and professiona ...

* – founder Jim Bonaminio discusses the store's history fo
WCET-TV

kicentral.com/history/monorail
{{coord, 39.33571, -84.524342, region:US-OH_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title American companies established in 1971 Retail companies established in 1971 Supermarkets of the United States Companies based in Cincinnati Buildings and structures in Butler County, Ohio Tourist attractions in Butler County, Ohio Fairfield, Ohio 1971 establishments in Ohio