Jungle Jim's International Market

Jungle Jim's International Market, formerly Jungle Jim's Farmer's Market, is a large supermarket in Fairfield, Ohio that has been described as a theme park of food. Founded in 1971 by "Jungle" Jim Bonaminio, the store started as a small produce stand, and has grown to 48,000 items over 285,000 square feet (6½ acres or 26,000 square meters) of floorspace.cite news|author=Jacob Dirr|first=Jacob|last=Dirr|title=Welcome to the Jungle|work=The Cincinnati Enquirer|publisher=Gannett Company|date=2007-01-13|accessdate=2007-01-13|url=http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070113/NEWS01/70113003/] Jungle Jim's is notable for one of the largest wine collections in the United States,cite news|url=http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=2791072|title=Supermarket Wars: Stores Use Dancing Animals, Size to Battle for Your Dollars|work=Good Morning America|publisher=ABC News|date=2007-01-13|accessdate=2007-01-13] live seafood tanks, and an in-store cooking school. Each week, the store is visited by approximately 50,000 shoppers,cite news|author=Anthony Bianco|first=Anthony|last=Bianco|title=The Wizard Of Odd|work=BusinessWeek|publisher=McGraw-Hill|date=2005-04-18|accessdate=2007-01-14|url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_16/b3929108.htm] whom Bonaminio calls "foodies". Many of the specialty foods in the store's Asian and European departments are difficult to find elsewhere in the Greater Cincinnati area, and customers have been known to drive from other cities for the store's wide variety of food.

Jungle Jim's resembles a theme park due to the unusual displays throughout the store. At the entrance, animal replicas are accompanied by occasional roars and the splashing of a miniature waterfall in the background. Inside are several animatronic displays, such as a lion that sings Elvis Presley songs at regular intervals and a "rock band" composed of General Mills cereal mascots. 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 façade and wooden frame of a cantina. 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 toilets. In 2007, the restrooms won the Cintas 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.

With its latest expansion, Jungle Jim's has added a strip mall on one side, including Starbucks, MaggieMoo's, Hallmark, and CiCi's Pizza locations. A short distance from the store, an unused, jungle-themed monorail station houses monorail cars from Wild Animal Habitat, a former ride at Kings Island.cite news|author=Michael Sangiacomo|first=Michael|last=Sangiacomo|title=Jungle Jim’s exotic journey|work=The Plain Dealer|publisher=Advance Publications|date=2004-11-03|accessdate=2007-01-13|format=PDF|url=http://www.junglejims.com/files/news_stories/Plain_Dealer_nov3_2004.pdf] The Oscar Event Center, a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m²) space for wine tastings and concerts alike, opened in 2007. On April 1, 2005, Bonaminio signed a letter of intent to open a second, smaller location closer to Cincinnati. As of April 2007, however, the project has been cancelled due to a lack of progress at the site. Instead, Jungle Jim's will focus on its original location, including building the long-planned monorail system.

Jungle Jim's has been featured on the Food Network show "Unwrapped", as well as ABC News' "Good Morning America".

References

ee also

*Jungle Jim

External links

* [http://www.junglejims.com/ Jungle Jim's International Market]
* [http://www.junglejims.com/oscar/ The Oscar Event Center]
* [http://flickr.com/photos/junglejims/ Photos of Jungle Jim's] at Flickr
*YouTube|Y3sLxBZIvFc|CET Snapshot: Jungle Jim's – founder Jim Bonaminio discusses the store's history for [http://www.cetconnect.org/genericPlayer.asp?id=154 WCET-TV]
* [http://www.kicentral.com/history/monorail.php kicentral.com/history/monorail]