The MULE Rolls East
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The first thing you notice is the engine. A low growl that doesn't belong to anything built this decade. Then the truck itself comes around the bend toward the Mast General Store in Knoxville, Tennessee, all steel and patina, a 1996 military cargo hauler that has clearly lived more than one life. It rolls past the white church steeple, past the porch of the Arcadian Shop, and eases into a parking lot that, an hour from now, won't look like a parking lot at all.
This is the MULE. And for one afternoon in the downtown Knoxville, it's about to turn a place people already love into a place they don't want to leave.
An Old Truck With a New Job
The MULE started out as a Stewart & Stevenson M1078 — the kind of vehicle built to transport troops, not host concerts. KÜHL gutted it, rebuilt its power system with two 270 Ah batteries and a 3,000-watt solar-charging inverter setup, and gave it a job nobody asks a military truck to do: unfold into a full concert stage, big enough for six musicians, powered by nothing but sun and battery.
It debuted at SEMA in 2023. Since then, it's logged more than 5,000 miles, hosted over 50 shows, and pulled thousands of people into the parking lots of more than 60 independent outdoor retailers across Tennessee, Texas, Colorado, and New England. This fall, it heads east again — eleven stops, from Vermont farm country to the Jersey shore towns, each one built around a specialty shop that's been part of the outdoor community long before KÜHL showed up with a truck full of amplifiers.
Why a Truck, and Why Now
Most brands chasing growth right now are chasing it straight to the customer — skip the shop, sell direct, keep the whole transaction in-house. KÜHL has gone a different way. The company runs six of its own stores and plans to grow that number carefully, but roughly 55% of its business still moves through independent specialty retailers in all fifty states — some of them partners for more than 25 years.
The MULE Tour is what that commitment looks like in practice. Instead of pulling customers away from local shops, KÜHL is driving people toward them.
"A digital ad is something that quickly gets scrolled past," says Jonny Atencio, KÜHL's Marketing Partnerships and Events lead. "A day spent at a live show in a parking lot, next to a truck that turns into a stage, stays with you. That's the whole idea behind the MULE Tour — we'd rather give someone a memory than an impression."
Tyler Jackson, KÜHL's Sales Director, puts it plainly: "Our specialty retailers, along with our independent sales reps, are the lifeblood of our company and have played an enormous role in building the brand. The MULE Tour isn't about generating a spike in sales for one day or one weekend; it's about showing up and thanking the people who have supported us along the way."
What Actually Happens in the Parking Lot
By late afternoon in Knoxville, the MULE has unfolded into its stage configuration, a local band is running a soundcheck, and the Mast General Store’s usual foot traffic has turned into something closer to a block party. There are giveaways. There's a raffle. There's the particular kind of conversation that happens when strangers realize they're standing next to someone else wearing the same pair of Kühl pants.
Natalea Cummings, General Manager at Mast General Store in Knoxville, has seen the pattern repeat itself at her own store's stops: "The live music, the awesome truck, and good food. They gave out goodies, and we had some gift card winners." The traffic and the sales, hers and everyone else's in the store that day, goes up. But that's the byproduct, not the point.
"A KÜHL fan can spot another a mile away," Cummings adds. "The logo is a talking point for most when they see each other out in the wild."
The Northeast Stops
The next tour on tap runs from early September through late in the month, moving through Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania:
- 9/8 – Lenny's, Barre, VT
- 9/9 – FarmWay, Bradford, VT
- 9/11 – Lahout's (location TBA)
- 9/12 – Kittery Trading Post, Kittery, ME
- 9/14 – Arcadian Shop, Lenox, MA
- 9/15 – Kenco, Kingston, NY
- 9/19 – Ramsey Outdoor, Ramsey, NJ
- 9/22 – Ramsey Outdoor, Succasunna, NJ
- 9/23 – Flemington Outfitters, Flemington, NJ
- 9/26 – Trail Creek Outfitters, Glen Mills, PA
Every stop is shaped by the retailer and the community around it. Some are built around a full afternoon of music and food, others kept simple: the truck, the team, and a stack of giveaways, because everyone likes a freebie.
Still Independent, Still Grateful
KÜHL has been privately owned for over 40 years with no venture capital and no private equity — just a company answering to the people who wear its products and the shops that have sold it since the beginning. The MULE Tour aims to make that partnership visible, one parking lot at a time.
By the time the band packs up and the MULE folds itself back into a truck, the point has landed: the outdoor industry runs on relationships, not algorithms. KÜHL is making sure the people who built theirs know it.
The MULE Tour rolls through the Northeast this September. Find a stop near you — and the retailer behind it — here.
