Jungle Jim’s International Market—a regional superstore known for its selection of over 200,000 international goods from 75+ countries—faces the challenge of juggling customer needs with their bottom line.

Fairfield

Donald Trump has signed an order to impose tariffs imports into the U.S. from countries including China, Mexico and Canada.

Global Tariffs

Jungle Jim’s International Market, a significant superstore renowned for its extensive collection of over 200,000 international goods from more than 75 countries, is navigating the challenges of balancing customer needs and maintaining its financial health. The store prides itself on offering a diverse array of products and speaking 35 languages to cater to a global clientele. However, potential tariffs could impact the pricing and availability of some items on their shelves.

The U.S. government's planned tariffs could introduce uncertainty to market prices, as indicated by President Trump's recent statement on reciprocal tariffs affecting multiple countries. In response, Jungle Jim's plans to manage its pricing closely, leveraging its status as an independently owned business to potentially absorb some cost increases and minimize the impact on customers. This is particularly crucial in departments like seafood and produce, which have reportedly seen an immediate rise in pricing by approximately 25%.

Mark Borison, host of the Jungle Gyms podcast, conveyed that the focus is on maintaining affordable prices while keeping the market's expansive selection intact. He acknowledged that the goal is to reach a balance where costs can be managed without sacrificing the well-being of employees or denying customers their preferred international goods. Jungle Jim's aims to allow consumers to continue their global culinary adventures without significantly affecting their budgets.



International market wants people ‘comfortable enough to shop and eat’

President Trump on Friday said that upcoming reciprocal tariffs, so far expected for April 2nd, will not be set in stone. I don't change, but the word flexibility is an important word. Sometimes it's flexibility, so there'll be flexibility. But basically, it's reciprocal, so that if China is charging us 50 percent or 30 percent or 20 percent, and I don't mean China, I mean anybody, any country, Canada. The president did not elaborate on what exceptions may be made, but pointed to U.S. automakers being exempt from the current 25 percent tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada. And this comes as the European Union says it is delaying a rollout of 50 percent retaliatory tariffs on American whiskey. The commission announced Thursday that rather than a phased approach beginning April 1st, they will hit all at once, mid-April, pending negotiations. For more on what this means for consumers and local businesses, I'm joined now by Mark Borison, host of the Jungle Gyms podcast, which airs from Jungle Gyms International Market outside Cincinnati, which is a huge food market, and you can also get some home items there. Mark, great to see you. Oh, my gosh. So glad to be here. Thank you so much for having me. Oh, wonderful. So for those who are not familiar with this market, you know, take us inside the jungle on a typical day. What kinds of goods can shoppers find there? Oh, my God. So I always love to describe Jungle Gyms as the Walt Disney and Willy Wonka. We're like, what if we open a grocery store together? So we recently just broke 200,000 different items in the store. We carry food from over 75 different countries. And so as you walk through our international sections, you'll see each aisle is divided by country of origin, which is really cool. We speak 35 languages in the store. I barely speak one well myself. It's incredibly impressive. So all kinds of people, all kinds of things and a little treat for everyone. I see that. So, I mean, you really are going on, you know, an international trip whenever you come to this market. So then tell me, you know, the customers expect great things in products. But then what are you telling customers they might expect soon with the tariffs possibly going into effect? What kind of prices are they going to be looking at? Does it mean that some of their favorite items will no longer be on the shelves or accessible? What's really been interesting about this, and I reached out to all of our actual experts here in the store to make sure I was relaying this properly. But right now, what we're really seeing is just sort of what I would call maybe a little market instability. Right. And so because we're not really sure how this is all going to land. I think what's happening is both both consumers and producers are kind of bringing their cards close to their chest. Right. We're not sure what the next thing will be. Now, I think we at Jungle Gyms are in kind of a unique place, right? We're independently owned family business. So we and our buyers have a lot of control over pricing. So, I mean, I'll tell you this. Every single person I spoke to about this before this interview, they were like, we will squeeze the margins on our end as long as humanly possible so that hopefully customers are not seeing a ton of increases in prices. So we're looking at some of the video here. Yeah, just to see the kind of variety. Sorry to interrupt you, but the video is so intriguing and you have been supplying us that and I love your enthusiasm about all these products. But we saw the maple syrup, you know, display, presumably from Canada. People might be able to, you know, expect it's going to cost more. I don't know what that one big thing. I don't know if that was a big, you know, tubing of popcorn or cheese. But, you know, OK, I'm told it's cheese. All right. The cheese is from somewhere, you know, likely exotic. So that's going to cost consumers a lot more. Are your customers going to be willing to pay more, you know, without being disgruntled over it? You know, I think unfortunately, I think post-COVID, I think consumers across the board are anticipating some price increases in general. Like none of us are happy about it. And I think there's a little more. I think the attitude slightly more lax than it would have been if we were having this conversation in 2019, for example. Right. I think we're all at that point now where we're like, all right, well, I guess grapes are three dollars a pound now. Right. So I'd like to think overall, I think the customers will be understanding. But again, our biggest thing is that even though here's a great factoid I found out from both our seafood department and our produce department, they're the ones seeing it the most immediately right now. And they were telling me that both of those departments saw in recent orders about a 25 percent increase in pricing. Right. Which is wild to hear. It was wild twofold. Right. Seeing how large our orders were really blew my mind. And then going, oh, 25 percent of that order is still a very large number. Right. So in seeing that, I'd like to think I think our customers are pretty understanding. What I like about the Jungle Gyms audience is that they are educated consumers and they're adventurous. And I think it's really just going to come down to us as a business to go, what's the line? Right. Like, how can we prevent the pricing from going up as quickly as possible? When you say what's the line, meaning you might even draw the line of, you know what, this is not cost effective. This is too expensive for our customers. We're not even going to stock this product anymore. Is that a line that you are considering? No. I mean, I think it is in consideration. I think there's so much instability right now that no one's really sure. And they're like, we're prepared for any potential option. But that said, I think with the customers being so voracious to try these new things, I imagine that will still provided there's no production supply issues, I imagine we'll continue to carry all those products. But again, it just comes down. The line I was referring to was more about how low can we make our margins before we can't pay our employees? Right. So that the customers aren't feeling the squeeze. Right. Exactly. So that's been the big focus here. Oh, go for it. Finish your thought. Oh, I'm so sorry. No, we just want to make sure everybody still feels comfortable enough to shop and eat. I mean, it's such a basic human thing. We all need to eat. Yeah, we certainly do. And we like eating, at least speaking for myself. I really love to eat. Mark Morrison, you're making me smile because I love your enthusiasm. And something tells me your customers are just as jazzed as you are about your incredible marketplace there and your podcast. Thanks for being with us and all the best. And let's hope it's not too much discomfort, as you put it, you know, on the road ahead. Because, yes, we need to eat. We really need to eat. Mark, thank you. I'm hungry. Thank you so much for having me. Me too, I'm hungry right now. All right. Thank you. Great having you.

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Global Tariffs