During our Spring Break a couple of weeks ago, 
It's only a 3 hour drive from Columbus to Louisville, so we knew we needed to kill some time on the way there. Her sister suggested that we check out Jungle Jim's.
Jungle Jim's is an international grocery store with two locations in the Cincinnati area. Each store boasts "more than 200,000 square fee of shopping and more than 180,000 unique products to choose from".
We didn't really know what to expect when we decided to go there, but even if we had, I still don't think we would have been prepared. This place is huge, crazy, and impressive all at once.
I was going to include this as a #marketfriday post for the initiative that 
One of the things I notice right of the bat is the fact that they have "stores within stores" inside Jungle Jim's. If you look to the right in the above photo you will see a couple of places. One was a bakery, and one was a fried chicken restaurant. They also had a small butcher, a kitchen utensil store, and some other stuff too.
As you can see, they also have a small theater where you can watch the "Jungle Jim Story", but we skipped that part. After driving for an hour or two to get to Cincinnati, I needed to hit the restroom. When I saw these two porta-johns lined up in the store I was immediately apprehensive.
Luckily, it was just a ruse. When you open the door, it leads you right into one of the nicest public restrooms I have seen. Jungle Jim's prides themselves in keeping their restrooms clean. I didn't get any pictures of course, so you will just have to trust me.
We weren't even fully into the store yet and
They had literally everything, but we ended up purchasing a BBQ rub and a vegetable seasoning.
Jungle Jim's is more than just a food store. They have just about everything as you can see in the photo above. This was just one small section of the store. We quickly decided we needed to take a more specific approach to viewing the store, so we started tackling the perimeter of the building in a counter clockwise fashion.
The first section we went through was the international section. Of course they had to have a hookah display with different apparatus's you could purchase. I can't imagine you can get a very high quality hookah for $11.99 as you see in the photo. Perhaps that was just the price for the stuff you put in the hookah.
They have each international aisle labeled and separated by region. The whole international section of this store is as big as some normal grocery stores. It was pretty impressive. I tried to take as many photos as I could without being overwhelming or just downright creepy.
As you can see, this was just part of the "Asia" section of the store.
The Middle East Section
India also had its own space.
This cooler was housing some "authentic Mediterranean food". I'd be interested to know if these brands are the same ones that folks find in their stores around the country. We saw a fair number of foreign people in the store. I have a feeling many people use Jungle Jim's as their go-to grocery store versus the novelty tourist destination that brings other people (like us).
More of the Asian aisle.
I had to include this photo of the Thailand section for 
Authentic "Mexican Coca-cola".
Spread throughout the store, they also had these little displays and vehicles just hanging out as part of the shelves. This was an old fire truck with the different hose adapters.
This whole corner of the store was dedicated to hot sauces and spicy blends.
Meanwhile this was the "Pizza section".
You could also build your own six pack of specialty colas and sodas.
This was an old plane that was hanging over the hot sauce area.
And the "King of Pop", since pop is what us folks in the Northern US call soda.
This was another vehicle displayed near the seafood area.
As you can see, they have a pretty extensive seafood counter. We had to turn around and go a different way at this point because the seafood smell was getting to
This was another fun little display they had randomly placed among the food aisles.
A full bakery for those of you with a sweet tooth.
As well as an extensive display of jerky. Kangaroo jerky anyone? How about some camel jerky?
They also had a section fully dedicated to pickles in the deli area. You could grab a bag and pick as many pickles as you wanted out of the barrels.
As well as an extensive olive selection!
One final look at the jerky aisle before we move along.
They also had a really impressive produce section. It kind of reminded me of the farmer's markets that we have in the summer in the US.
They even had Durian! I've never tried it, but I have heard it is insanely pungent odor-wise. I know some places ban you from bringing Durian into their space like subways etc. Is $4.99 a good price per pound for a Durian?
They also had a pretty impressive beer selection from all over the world.
The two photos above are only scratching the surface of what they had to offer. They had aisles and aisles of beer. This was just the cooler section.
As well as wine. They even had a little bar area where you could sit and try different wines and beers. It was kind of cool. If it hadn't been 10 in the morning, we might have decided to try some out!
They also had a quite large humidor area that might have been cool to check out given more time.
A parting shot of the beer section!
Finally, they also had an extensive cheese selection. I work in a town with four gourmet cheese shops, so this wasn't as big of a deal to me. I can go and get pretty much any kind of cheese I want any day of the week cut right off the wheel.
They used to produce much of the cheese right here in town, but most of that has move out of state. They still sell it though and there is even a cheese named after the town. If you have ever had or seen Pinconning cheese, then you have tasted a piece of legacy of the town where I work.
This is the map that you can get when you enter the store. As you can see. I hit just about every area they have listed here. They even show you the different vehicles on the map so you can get an idea of where you are.
Finally, some parting facts from the back of the map!
When you see them written down in hard numbers like that, they are pretty impressive. I never would have guessed the produce section is over an acre in size.
Stopping here was a great suggestion by my sister in law. If you ever get a chance to visit one of the two Jungle Jim locations, I highly recommend it. Just bring your walking shoes and some spare cash for all the cool things you are going to find falling into your cart!
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or
