THOMASVILLE — Garrett Archibald was first introduced to skateboarding by his older brother when he was 10 years old. Growing up in a small Florida town and skating in Tampa, Archibald’s hobby became a passion and that passion has made its way to Thomasville. Archibald, now 26 years old, moved from his home town of Dade City, Florida, where he was the only skateboarder for a long time, to Thomasville, where his family often vacationed, and has opened up Southbound Skate Shop in the downtown area.
“Just noticed a sense of community here, especially in the skateboarding community, that I knew we could grow,” Archibald said. “I’ve met a lot of people through skating and most places with a small park, they need a shop for everyone to come get all of their skateboard stuff.”
Skateboarding is more than a hobby or passion for Archibald. As he put it, “I just live, eat and breathe skateboarding.”
“For many people skateboarding can be a phase. They start. They stop. I just never really stopped.”
Archibald had already begun sharing his passion for skating with Thomasville before his shop opened. Southbound Skate Shop helped renovate the local skate park at the Butler-Mason YMCA, resurfacing and painting the park.
Now, it looks brand new. and it’s clear that the local skaters are excited about their new local shop. Southbound was “bombarded” in their opening weekend, selling far more than they thought they would. A welcome surprise for sure.
Now that their doors are open, Southbound is still focused on building the skateboarding community in Thomasville. They are currently in the beginning stages of planning an event with the YMCA at the Remington skate park. The shop also has four team riders who represent the shop, two of whom are Thomasville locals, who help promote the shop and inspire young skaters as they skate in and around Thomasville.
Southbound Skate Shop is located at 131 N. Madison St. in the downtown area across the street from the Thomas County Public Library. Southbound has everything a skateboarder may need whether you’re a high level skater or just getting started. They have everything from shirts, hats and helmets to decks, trucks, wheels and hardware. They’ll even build your board for you. They carry some of the most popular brands in skateboarding including Anti-Hero, BakerS, Plan B, Girl and Spitfire.