We’re always looking for fun new things to do, during our annual sojourns to Ohio. And somehow, Ohio never disappoints! We recently learned about a wild store with two locations near Cincinnati, called Jungle Jim’s International Market. Animatronics, a monorail, and food from around the world? We could hardly wait to check it out!
About a month ago, I randomly stumbled across a video about Jungle Jim’s. I was immediately furious at Mike, for never telling me about this insane wonder of southwestern Ohio… convinced that he was concealing it from me. He swore innocence, and that he also didn’t know anything about Jungle Jim’s, but I’m not sure I believe him. If there was a store like this anywhere near my hometown, I definitely would know about it! But I promised to forgive him, if we went the next time we were in Ohio.
Jungle Jim’s was founded in 1974 by an Ohio entrepreneur named Jim Bonaminio, as a simple produce stand. But Bonaminio had aspirations far beyond that humble beginning, and before long, his market had started sprawling across a massive 200,000 square-foot location in Fairfield, just to the north of Cincinnati. With a heavy dose of family-friendly Midwestern quirkiness, Jungle Jim’s won a loyal following, and was able to open a second location. The original produce stand is still intact, by the way, preserved in the belly of the mega-supermarket built up around it.
But what exactly is Jungle Jim’s? For starters, it’s a foodie’s paradise! This giant supermarket carries just about every international product you can imagine, from African delicacies to Asian vegetables. But it also feels like a theme park, with weird decor and goofy animatronics. This is a place to wander around aimlessly, as much as it is to shop. When we emerged from our first visit to the store, we couldn’t believe that four full hours had passed!
Four hours?! What did we do for such a long time? Well, I’m glad you asked. Jungle Jim’s is just overwhelming. For the first three hours of our time, we didn’t even bother to pretend shopping, instead just exploring to get a sense of the place. And there is a lot to be explored.
There’s the butter bar! The cheeses (over 1400 different kinds), 4000 varieties of beers, and 12,000 wines from across the world. There are 1500 types of hot sauces. There are barrels of massive pickles. There’s a humidor with an amazing selection of cigars. There’s a tub full of fish, shark, and alligator on ice. Yeah, an alligator in a tub, on ice. There’s meat from just about any animal you might want to sample, and some you definitely don’t. We saw crickets for sale as a snack, and weirdly-shaped fruits that we couldn’t identify.
Oh yeah, and there’s a full-service bar in the alcohol section. You can buy a glass of beer or wine to walk around with. We also got the chance to check out the wine cellar. There’s a master sommelier at Jungle Jim’s, because of course there is, and he showed us the barrels being stored in a massive vaulted room. Here, he said the most expensive bottle is over $18,000. And this was the point at which we went from being amused by Jungle Jim’s, to being amazed. And a little aghast.
After grabbing a beer, we moved into the international zones, which boasts products from over 70 countries. We loved spotting all the products and produce we’ve encountered, during our travels. There was something from just about every place we’ve spent 91 days — herring from Iceland, soju from Korea, ajvar from Macedonia, lokum from Turkey. They even sell fufu from Ghana!
After three hours of exhaustive exploration, we had to sit down for a little bit, and went outside. That’s where we discovered the monorail, which connects Jungle Jim’s to a nearby event venue! It’s no longer in operation, we think, but it was cool to get up close and peek inside the train’s windows.
Finally, we began the actual shopping. Luckily, this wasn’t as demanding as we had feared. Despite the immense size of Jungle Jim’s, we already knew what we wanted, and just had to find it. And the employees were very willing to help us find things; everyone we encountered at Jungle Jim’s was exceedingly friendly, from the checkout girl, to the bartender, to the folks stocking shelves. It seems that the employees of Jungle Jim’s know that they work in a special place, and are proud of it.
It’s actually a good thing that Jungle Jim’s isn’t found super-close to Springfield, because otherwise we’d be there every day. And eventually, we’d probably talk ourselves into trying kangaroo meat. I mean, it’s right there, next to the chicken! It’s not like we crave kangaroo or anything, but we’d be looking at it every day, and would eventually start to get curious. So yeah, we love Jungle Jim’s, but some distance is a good thing.
From our Travel Blog.
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