Jungle Jim's International Market

Last updated
Jungle Jim's International Market
Industry Grocery store
Founded1971;52 years ago (1971) in Hamilton, Ohio
Founder"Jungle" Jim Bonaminio
Headquarters Fairfield, Ohio,
United States
Number of locations
2
Area served
 Cincinnati, Ohio
Website junglejims.com
Footnotes /references
[1]

Jungle Jim's International Market, formerly Jungle Jim's Farmer's Market, is a large specialty supermarket in Fairfield, Ohio, with a satellite location in Union Township, Clermont County, both near Cincinnati. The main location has been described as a theme park of food[ citation needed ]. Jungle Jim's offers one of the largest wine selections in the United States, [2] live seafood tanks, and an in-store cooking school. Each week, the store is visited by about 82,000 shoppers, [3] whom founder "Jungle" Jim Bonaminio calls "foodies". Many of the specialty foods in international 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 is also known for its use of animatronics as well as other displays.

Contents

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, the city commission approved the permit. The first store opened in 1975 with 4,200 square feet of space. [4]

Bonaminio continued to expand the store, adding products at customer request and enlarging and re-arranging the store. In 1988, after visiting specialty markets in Chicago, he decided to make the store an international market as well as introduce the jungle theme. Today, Jungle Jim’s is known for its wide variety of international foods such as various cheeses, exotic meats, breads and wines. [5] [6]

Adult Oriented Hot Sauces Jungle Jim hot sauce.jpg
Adult Oriented Hot Sauces


Expansion

Around 2004, Jungle Jim's added a strip mall on one side, including Hallmark and CiCi's Pizza. In 1998, the store purchased the former "Lion Country Safari" monorail trains from Kings Island. 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. [7] In 2019, the store opened "The Oscar Station", a bourbon bar experience housed within the monorail station. [8] 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. [9]

Eastgate Location

On April 1, 2005, Bonaminio signed a letter of intent to open a second, smaller location closer to Cincinnati, [3] 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 Place Mall in Eastgate. [10]

The Oscar Event Center

The Oscar Event Center is a 34,100 sq. ft event space attached to Jungle Jim's International Market. [11] 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. [12] 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. [13]

Jungle Jim's has been featured on the Food Network show Unwrapped , the History Channel show Modern Marvels , and ABC News' Good Morning America . [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People mover</span> Fully automated transit systems, generally serving relatively small areas

A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairfield, Ohio</span> City in Ohio, United States

Fairfield is a suburban city located in Butler county 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 42,623 as of the 2020 Census. Incorporated in 1955 from portions of Fairfield Township, it includes the former hamlets of Symmes Corner, Fair Play, Furmandale, and Stockton. The Fairfield City School District is one of the largest in Ohio and serves both the City of Fairfield and Fairfield Township.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kroger</span> American retail company

The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hy-Vee</span> American supermarket chain

Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned chain of supermarkets in the Midwestern and Southern United States, with more than 280 locations in Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wisconsin, with stores planned in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. Hy-Vee was founded in 1930 by Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg in Beaconsfield, Iowa, in a small brick building known as the Beaconsfield Supply Store, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Beam</span> Brand of bourbon whiskey

Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced in Clermont, Kentucky, by Beam Suntory. It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795, seven generations of the Beam family have been involved in whiskey production for the company that produces the brand. The brand name became "Jim Beam" in 1943 in honor of James B. Beam, who rebuilt the business after Prohibition ended. Previously produced by the Beam family and later owned by the Fortune Brands holding company, the brand was purchased by Suntory Holdings in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meijer</span> American hypermarket chain

Meijer Inc. is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwestern United States. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962. About half of the company's 259 stores are located in Michigan; the others are in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Wisconsin. The chain is ranked by Forbes as the 14th-largest private company in the United States, and is the country's 21st-largest retailer by revenue as of 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Market (Texas)</span>

Central Market is an American gourmet grocery store chain owned by H-E-B Grocery Company based in San Antonio, Texas. Most locations also have a full-service kitchen, offer cooking and wine classes in their culinary school, and offer catering services. The chain has ten locations, all in Texas. Central Market was named "Outstanding Specialty Food Retailer" by Specialty Food Magazine and the National Association for Specialty Food Trade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheetz</span> American retail chain

Sheetz, Inc. is an American chain of convenience stores and coffee shops owned by the Sheetz family. The stores sell custom food, beverages and convenience store items, with all locations having offered 24/7 service since the 1980s. Nearly all of them sell gasoline; a few locations are full-scale truck stops, including showers and a laundromat. Sheetz's headquarters is in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with their corporate offices located there as well, with over 700 stores located in Central and Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, and North Carolina, with plans to expand into Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Mall at Fairfield Commons</span> Shopping mall in Beavercreek, Ohio

The Mall at Fairfield Commons, often referred to as the Fairfield Mall, is a shopping mall in Beavercreek, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Dayton. The mall was opened in 1993 and has two floors. The anchor stores are Macy's, J. C. Penney, Dick's Sporting Goods, Round 1 Entertainment, and Morris Home Furniture. There is one vacant anchor store, formerly Elder-Beerman. Located adjacent to Interstate 675, it is near a golf course, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Wright State University and the Nutter Center entertainment complex. The mall is located just south of the interstate on North Fairfield Road, a main thoroughfare through Beavercreek. It offers over 140 different shops, department stores and restaurants, including a food court.

Food City is an American supermarket chain with stores located in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. It is owned by K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc., a privately held family and employee-owned corporation headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia. K-VA-T Food Stores owns the Food City Distribution Center, a distribution center K-VA-T helped form in 1974 and acquired full control of in 1998, Misty Mountain Spring Water, LLC, a producer of bottled water, as well as limited-assortment grocery stores named Super Dollar Food Center, Food City Express and Gas'N Go convenience stores, and Food City Wine and Spirits liquor stores. Many of their grocery stores have their own fuel stations, with the Gas'N Go branding.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bashas'</span> Arizona based grocery store chain

Bashas' is a family-owned grocery store chain, primarily located in Arizona, with two locations outside the state in Crownpoint, New Mexico, and Shiprock, New Mexico. Its headquarters are in unincorporated Maricopa County, Arizona, near Chandler. As of December 15, 2021, Bashas' is owned by Raley's Supermarkets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forest Fair Village</span> Abandoned shopping mall near Cincinnati, Ohio, US

Forest Fair Village was a shopping mall in the northern suburbs of Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It is situated on the border between Forest Park and Fairfield, at the junction of Interstate 275 and Winton Road. The mall, built in phases between 1988 and 1989 as Forest Fair Mall, has become noted for its troubled history; despite being the second-biggest mall in the state and bringing many new retailers to the market, it lost three anchor stores and its original owner LJ Hooker to bankruptcy less than a year after opening. The mall underwent renovations throughout the mid 1990s, attracting new stores such as Kohl's, Burlington Coat Factory, and Bass Pro Shops. Mills Corporation renamed the property to Cincinnati Mills in 2002 and renovated the mall once more in August 2004. Following the sale of Mills's portfolio to Simon Property Group, the mall was sold several times afterward, while continuing to lose many of its key tenants. After having been renamed to Cincinnati Mall and again to Forest Fair Village in the 2010s, the property received significant media attention as an example of a dead mall. It also received a number of proposals for renovation, none of which were realized. Following years of tenancy decline, it closed to the public on December 2, 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilltop Horizon</span> Shopping mall in Richmond, California

The Shops at Hilltop, formerly known as Hilltop Mall, was a regional shopping center in the Hilltop neighborhood of Richmond, California. Hilltop is managed and co-owned by Prologis, Inc. The anchor store is Walmart. There are 3 vacant anchor stores that were once Macy's, JCPenney and Sears.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol Farms</span> California-based upscale grocery chain

Bristol Farms is an upscale grocery store chain in California, United States. Founded in Los Angeles County, Bristol Farms operates 19 stores: 14 as Bristol Farms locations and 5 branded as Lazy Acres Markets throughout Southern California. The company is currently owned by Good Food Holdings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Americana at Brand</span> Mixed-use retail and residential complex in Glendale, California, United States

The Americana at Brand is a large shopping, dining, entertainment and residential complex in Glendale, California. The property was built and is owned and operated by Los Angeles businessman Rick J. Caruso and his company Caruso Affiliated. Caruso Affiliated has built and operates many other projects, including The Grove at Farmers Market in Los Angeles. The Americana at Brand's 82 retail shops include Barneys New York, Nordstrom, XXI Forever, and David Yurman; its restaurants include Din Tai Fung, Bourbon Steak by Michael Mina, and Katsuya; the complex comprises 100 condominiums and 242 luxury apartments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairway Market</span> American grocery chain

Fairway Market is an American grocery chain, founded in 1933 by Nathan Glickberg. It is currently one of the store banners owned by the Wakefern Food Corporation, a company known for its flagship supermarket cooperative network, ShopRite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Lane Market</span>

Dorothy Lane Market, often abbreviated to DLM, is a chain of gourmet grocery stores based and located in Dayton, Ohio. It originally began as a fruit stand in 1948, at the corner of Far Hills Avenue and Dorothy Lane in Kettering, Ohio. It is owned by the Mayne family, and it is in its fourth generation. The company's annual revenue is $80,000,000 and it has just over 900 employees. A culinary school is also located at the Dorothy Lane Market in Centerville, Ohio. The school hosts classes, available to the public, multiple times weekly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Remke Markets</span> American supermarket

Remke Markets is a chain of American supermarkets in the Cincinnati metropolitan area.

Sunflower Farmers Market was an American chain of full-service grocery stores headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, which emphasized value-priced natural and organic products. Sunflower opened its first store in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2002. In June 2013, Sunflower Farmers Market was operating 38 grocery stores located in eight Southwestern states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Oklahoma and Texas. In June 2012, Sunflower merged with Sprouts Farmers Markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spec's Wine, Spirits & Finer Foods</span>

Spec's Wine, Spirits & Finer Foods, is a Texas family-owned liquor store chain, with headquarters in Midtown, Houston.

References

  1. ↑ "The Jungle Jim Story". junglejims.com. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Supermarket Wars: Stores Use Dancing Animals, Size to Battle for Your Dollars". Good Morning America . ABC News. 2007-01-13. Retrieved 2007-01-13.
  3. 1 2 Bianco, Anthony (2005-04-18). "The Wizard Of Odd". BusinessWeek . McGraw-Hill. Archived from the original on 2007-05-02. Retrieved 2007-01-14.
  4. ↑ "The Jungle Jim Story". Jungle Jim's International Market. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  5. ↑ "Welcome to Jungle Jim's".
  6. ↑ Bednarski, Kristin. "History of Jungle Jim's makes it unique". The Clermont Sun. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  7. ↑ Nick (18 August 2020). "Remembering the Kings Island Monorail". Coaster101. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  8. ↑ "Jungle Jim's holds grand reopening for its new bourbon bar". WLWT5. 26 July 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  9. ↑ Schwartzberg, Eric. "Jungle Jim's expanding its Fairfield location with new tenants". Journal News. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  10. ↑ Benson, Lisa (2010-10-08). "Jungle Jim's International Market to open new store". Cincinnati Business Courier. American City Business Journals . Retrieved 2011-03-26.
  11. ↑ "Oscar Event Center". Get to the BC. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  12. ↑ "The Oscar Event Center". Jungle Jim's International Market. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  13. ↑ "Events at the Jungle". Jungle Jim's International Market. Retrieved 4 October 2021.

39°20′09″N84°31′28″W / 39.33571°N 84.524342°W / 39.33571; -84.524342

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.