Within three miles of UT’s campus, a store exists with a collection of music, clothes, shoes and a good mix of other odds and ends, and it’s not the new Wal-Mart.
Though the front room proudly displays mostly music wares, its unusual collection of merchandise makes it hard to define the shop simply as a record store.
Jason Boardman, owner of the Pilot Light, opened the store in 2009 after recognizing the growing music scene in the previously neglected part of town known as the “Old City.”
Charlie Finch, who has been with Hot Horse since its conception, said the store has been an eclectic mix from the very beginning.
“This is the only store in Knoxville where you can come in and have a person who is interested in musical equipment but not really vintage stuff, and they can sit down and pick at a guitar while someone else is looking at the clothes,” Finch said. “Then somebody else is filing through all the records, and maybe someone who’s not into records but is into old TVs and things is shopping around up front.”
One glance around the store confirms Finch’s assertion that there is something there for everyone. Collections of records, racks of vintage clothing, instruments and assorted antiques are comfortably mingled in the shop.
Amanda Jones, a senior in communication studies, recalled her first impression of the store.
“They’re unique. It’s not something that you’re going to find at a normal record store,” Jones said. “They have stuff other than just records and various music equipment. They have a unique blend of items and also have a pretty nice and personable staff.”
Hot Horse contains odds and ends as obscure as a paint by number of the Stars Wars original trilogy or a stack of decorative vintage belt buckles. The store also keeps a variety of musical instruments from a 1964 Fender Mustang to a hammer dulcimer.
Finch enjoys seeing all the new musical equipment come through and often tests out especially tempting arrivals. He lets customers try out the guitars as well.
“Oh, we encourage it. I tell people to turn it up as loud as they want to,” Finch said. “I know it bothers some people at other places, but I love to hear that stuff.”
This type of personal interaction distinguishes Hot Horse from their conglomerate counterparts.
“I think it’s really important for people to go around to small businesses,” Finch said. “Especially ones that are competing with big companies like Amazon and Target or something that’s a one-stop place where you can stop and get everything and it’s done.”
At Hot Horse, it’s less about knocking items off a list and more about the experience of searching for the perfect find.
“They have so much interesting stuff to look at that you can’t help but go in and kind of poke around,” Jones said. “Especially the back room, I love all the random old clothes and shoes that they have back there.”
Despite the wide range of merchandise offered at Hot Horse, it remains relatively undiscovered. Finch expressed a hopeful outlook as the rebirth of the Old City continues.
“I want to see this place blossom into a great store. I mean, I think it has, but you know I’d like to see it busier more often,” Finch said. “But you know that will come. Give it time.”
No matter what your taste in music or apparel may be, Finch assures that the universal appeal of the store is the diversity.
“There’s that special little connection with weird clothes or little knick-knacks that you’re not gonna see anywhere else because they’re just random and little old things and just aren’t in circulation anymore,” Finch concluded. “I think it’s important to support those little places in your town because that’s what makes your town interesting.”
