360 Night Market aims to be a ‘unique local venue’

Residents and tourists alike will now have another place to go for food and local crafts and entertainment, with the new “360 Night Market” set to open at Marianas Business Plaza on Tuesday and Sunday, from 6pm to 10pm.

Eric Van der Maas, who owns Marianas Business Plaza, told Saipan Tribune that the market will give tourists and residents alike an option to do their shopping at night.

The market may also become another opportunity for local vendors and artists to show what they can offer tourists, he said.

Right now, there are 20 vendors set to join the opening night, with more invited to join. These vendors range from food, to arts, souvenirs, plants, and clothing.

The new night market, set under MBL’s solar-paneled roofs, is part of Van Der Maas’ dream of one day having a venue for local vendors making local products solely from local materials.

He showed Saipan Tribune a list he put together on his smartphone of all the assortment of items he believe Saipan can produce, package, and make popular among tourists.

He listed apigigi, local fish, Saipan-made ice cream, juicer, finadeni, coconuts, oil, Marianas chocolate, smoked fish, noni, soursop, papaya leaf, local art, sugar cane juice, washing powders, coco flour, hot pepper, sea salt, shampoo, soursop wine, and sweet potato flower as some of his ideas.

“There are so many things we can make here out of locally found products,” he said. “If we can educate the public that they can do this and make money and earn tourist dollars—that is the future of Saipan.”

The more money that is spent here, the better, he added.

Van Der Maas is looking for vendors with good products who they can work with to package it for tourists.

If packaged right, he said, a product has added value, and with a little bit of luck, a client may build a base of tourists who remember the unique product they got from the island of Saipan.

Plus, with the use the Internet, he said, these products can be ordered and re-ordered.

“Now we have a venue where the opportunity is there. I hope we have young people who will look and say ‘Wow, I can do this, I can make this—and I can sell it,’ to the local population and the tourists,” he said.

Van Der Maas said he would like to see a little more local arts and crafts, adding that he hopes the night market will become a mix of the Flame Tree Arts Festival and Thursday Night Market.

He believes a market like this can make a great example out of Saipan for the many tourists who come here.

“For tourists, it leaves a great memory, because they don’t come here to get something from China—they come from China,” he said.