When 28-year-old Jacob Heivly wanted to make the first run of shirts for his new skateshop, Pals Skakeshop, he returned to his old workplace, a print-shop he used to work at called Durham Shortrun Shirts, pressing designs manually onto each product.
“The person that I worked for let me come in and rent the space from her, so I could cut costs down and any middle-men,” Heivly said
Evident in its history, Pals is a store all about community: the connections Heivly has made while living in the Triangle for 13 years have given him the knowledge, resources and support to kickstart his business, located at 705 W. Rosemary Street in Carrboro.
All of the shirts he sells are made by local brands–Baboosh, Cool Boy 36 and Part 2–and artists, and even some of the designs on Pals’ merchandise result from his friends’ help.
“The UNC graphic that I did was actually made by Brian Dale–he’s an NC skater who now lives in [Philadelphia],” Heivly said. “He made a short run for all the homies, without all the Pal’s stuff because that obviously didn’t exist yet. When I opened the shop, I reached out to him and said, ‘I love this graphic. Would it be okay to kind of make it my own?’ And he was totally cool with it.”
The M&M-shaped logo found on much of the store’s merchandise was created by Drew Stedham, a good friend of Heivly, who designed graphics for Bowbar, the bar just a flight of stairs below Pals.
By befriending and working for the owner of Durham-based Manifest Skate Shop, Mike Johnston, Heivly was able to get in contact with skateboard distributors whose boards, gear and apparel he could sell.
“Eastern is the big one: they’re out of Wilmington,” Heivly said. “They buy direct from all these brands and have pallets and pallets full of boards. Recently, I’ve been trying to go more direct with the actual brands because their selection is usually a little better. Once you do a few orders, you start knowing the process: it becomes more familiar.”
After being open for just three months, Pals already has its walls filled with unique, vibrant skateboards and merchandise from multiple popular skate brands: Thrasher and DC.
At the counter, Heivly sells products and accessories like wheels, hardware and bearings to help with skaters’ technical needs. The store also features an area with a couch, skate magazines and a TV that Heivly wants to use to premiere skate videos. In short, every part of the store has something to occupy customers who make the trek up the staircase.
Heivly started skating as a young kid for fun, not taking it very seriously. After he moved to North Carolina from Chicago at the age of 11 and saw his neighbors doing tricks on obstacles they owned, Heivly began to work on his own tricks. Skating was a form of expression for Heivly that felt independent and personal, unlike team sports, which discouraged him.
“With skating, you go to the park and push yourself–you’re not relying on anyone else to tell you what or how to do it,” Heivly said. “I was about five minutes away from the skatepark, so it was easy to get a ride there and work on my tricks.”
As a teenager, Heivly hoped to make skating his career; his goal was to become a pro skateboarder until he realized, for him, skating was mostly for fun, a hobby and a way to connect with others. The joy of being with friends while skating is where the shop gets its name.
“The cliche way to say it is, for me, skating has always been about friendships, hanging out with your buddies,” Heivly said.
Today, skaters at Chapel Hill High School share a similar adoration for skating as a way to connect with like-minded peers.
“Skating isn’t for the vibe or the looks; it’s for learning and making mistakes with people who will be there to cheer you on until you get that one trick,” sophomore Gracie Vollins said. “Skating is an outlet for the stress or the problems in your life: it’s a way to be free.”
Heivly has worked at multiple skate shops throughout the Triangle; his first job was at the Chapel Hill Skate Park, which used to have a store attached to it owned by Vertical Urge, a skate shop in Raleigh. Working in skate shops, over time, led Heivly to want to open one in his hometown.
“Since [the shop] was right next to the park, me and my friends would all meet up: having a central hub was so convenient. When I started doing a lot of work with the Durham shop, Manifest, I gained interest in saying, ‘Hey, I kind of want to do this for where I grew up– Chapel Hill.’ Kids in the area would have to go to Durham, Raleigh or Greensboro to find a skateshop, so there were options, but … I wanted to bring something closer to here.”
Art teacher Paul Estrada, who has been skating since his childhood, says that having a place to get his skate goods in town is convenient and helpful.
“I would go to Manifest when I needed supplies, but just making the trip was half of a Saturday, so I would shop mostly online, which isn’t the best for skate culture,” Estrada said. “Online, it’s difficult to try out products or really get an idea of what they’re like. Now, at Pals, there’s community and structure–your group.”
With a unique atmosphere and owner who cares for the craft, Pals hopes to serve as the nucleus for the central North Carolina skate scene.
“Where I grew up in Chicago, there were no skate shops. We got our boards from a hobby shop,” Ben Trueblood, a friend of Heivly, said. “Right when I left, this shop opened, run by two brothers, that held together the whole scene: South Side skaters, North Side skaters and suburban skaters. Everyone came into this one location in Chicago, which then made the scene blow up. I think you can trace all of that back to there being a skateshop that was a cultural hub for everybody.”
Although Heivly is thankful for the local skatepark the town maintains on Aquatic Drive, he hopes that Pals can pave the way for the creation of a skatepark closer to downtown and for other resources that will make the artform more inclusive and accessible.
“A lot of towns don’t even have skateparks, so I’m glad we have something, but hopefully part of the shop’s expansion will also cater growth in the community for skaters, which will demand more space for skaters,” he said.
Heivly plans to host community events at the shop and already has with outside organizations like the Boys and Girls Club in Durham, where he gave kids skateboards and tips for riding.
“Events, once COVID dies down a bit, are a long-term goal: video premieres, collaborations with our downstairs neighbors Bowbar and indoor events–ways to encourage more growth in the skate community,” Heivly said.
Vollins is turning a project in her Mixed Media art class–taught by Estrada–into an exhibit called Deck it Out, which will premiere on June 18 at Pals. The gallery will feature old skate decks transformed into purchasable art pieces and all of the profits made will be donated to a local charity that has yet to be decided.
“The whole idea of this project is to take broken or used skateboards and put art on the back of them,” Vollins said. “Mr. Estrada loved the idea and helped me get others involved to create an exhibit. After talking to Estrada, I reached out to Jacob, who was more than happy to help and host the event. So far, I have four of my own pieces going into this show and I have nine other boards from people in the community, and I hope to see more.”
Heivly isn’t only concerned with skating’s future; he also wants to help preserve past talent by compiling and uploading skate videos–any that he can find–made in North Carolina to the Pals website. So far, he’s uploaded 22 videos ranging from the years 1999 to 2021. Heivly is protecting the art’s local history from being lost to time while also promoting its present prominence.
“[Pals] is all about exposing local talent here, using my platforms like social media and the website to showcase the amazing skaters here,” Heivly said. “There’s a lot of pros that have come out of North Carolina that the younger generations might not know about. I’m trying to give people access to one space that shines a light on [the history].”
