{"id":253131,"date":"2017-05-26T06:00:22","date_gmt":"2017-05-25T20:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=253131"},"modified":"2017-05-26T06:00:22","modified_gmt":"2017-05-25T20:00:22","slug":"marthas-store-marks-45-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/marthas-store-marks-45-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Martha\u2019s Store marks 45 years"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-253131 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/marthas-store-marks-45-years\/marthas-pix1\/'>Martha's-pix1<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-253132'>\n\t\t\t\tAngie Santos has been a cashier at Martha\u2019s Store since 1988. \u201cI love working behind the counter, meeting different people, talking to them. Our customers becomes our friends and that is important to us.\u201d (Bea Cabrera)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/marthas-store-marks-45-years\/marthas-pix2\/'>Martha's-pix2<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-253133'>\n\t\t\t\tA sketch of the first Martha\u2019s Store that was established in 1972 on Beach Road. (Bea Cabrera)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/marthas-store-marks-45-years\/marthas-pix3\/'>Martha's-pix3<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-253134'>\n\t\t\t\tMartha\u2019s Store in Garapan, a mother\u2019s legacy to her children and to the island.  (Bea Cabrera)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>A 45th anniversary is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, such a milestone is worthy of a grand celebration, complete with celebrity baggers, party balloons, and swag bags.<\/p>\n<p>For Martha\u2019s Store in Garapan, it is about soldiering on. The store, which pioneered the concept of 24-hour operation, is celebrating its 45th year this year.  The store opened in 1972 when there were not a lot of stores on Saipan. Since then, it has been a mute witness to the changing surroundings and economic landscape of the islands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMartha\u2019s Store was named after my mother. The business started as a bar. But the bar business was hard on my parents\u2019 marriage so my mother decided to close the bar and open a store. It was originally located on Beach Road but we moved to its current location in 1986, in Garapan,\u201d recounts Wyman Rechucher, the third child of Martha and currently the store\u2019s manager.<\/p>\n<p>Wyman\u2019s parents, Sebio and Martha Rechucher, came to Saipan from Palau during the Trust Territory period in the \u201960s. When the period ended, many left Saipan but Wyman\u2019s parents remained and they put up a business. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen my parents put up the store, things were tough in the \u201970s. Alcohol was quite new on island and one can say that it like the \u2018Western cowboy times\u2019 then. Things were pretty rowdy and the island was still dealing with post-war remnants. That period was the poorest times on island but my parents ventured on.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring the \u201980s and the \u201990s, we saw the economy boom. Martha\u2019s saw and felt this. People had jobs because of the Japanese boom and garment industry and so they had buying power. We were busy and working hard to keep items on shelves. [Since then], the island went up and down economically. Martha\u2019s kept afloat. We saw things at their very worst, and the same things when they became better,\u201d Wyman said.<\/p>\n<p>Now on its 45th year and in competition with many stores, what has kept Martha\u2019s Store going?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just don\u2019t give up. There is no secret. Just don\u2019t give up. Nowadays, many stores have sold out or leased out to foreign investors. There are times that the temptation is strong but I am not ready to give up. I will leave that decision to the next generation,\u201d Wyman said.<\/p>\n<p>Martha\u2019s Store\u2019s long marathon is strengthened by its relationship with its regular customers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are the first store on island to open 24\/7. We used to get customers from all parts of the island. Now, there is a store in every part of the island. You don\u2019t need to go far for your shopping needs. But our long-time customers are the store\u2019s friends. Regular customers that live in different parts of Saipan would pass several stores to get to Martha\u2019s. We know them by name and that makes Martha\u2019s unique,\u201d Wyman said.<\/p>\n<p>The business has kept the family together. The Rechucher children practically grew up in the store and they all have fond memories of it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy siblings and I had a happy childhood. We saw our parents work together. Mom was the cashier and Dad was in charge of inventory and accounting.  We all had chores in the store and as kids we looked forward to new stocks, toys, and great treats.\u201d Wyman said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBusiness has kept us together rather than break us apart. My mother, even in her age, would travel from Palau to visit the store. My oldest brother who is also busy running a business in Palau comes over every quarter to see how things are and give advice because he is the head of the household with most experience and success to share. My sisters, one on island and one in the States, are ready to help anytime.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Martha\u2019s Store intends to keep going and be a part of Saipan\u2019s journey and progress.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are always growing with the times and we are currently choosing a direction that we want to go. We are proud of what the store has become.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 45th anniversary is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, such a milestone is worthy&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":253132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[160,56,319,7987],"class_list":["post-253131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-beach-road","tag-business-3","tag-palau","tag-trust-territory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253131\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}