Unclaimed Baggage Center

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The Unclaimed Baggage Center is a retail store located in Scottsboro Alabama that sells items from lost or unclaimed airline luggage. [1] [2] Founded in 1970, it is the only store of its kind in the United States. It has received national attention, [3] [4] including mentions on The Oprah Winfrey Show , Late Night with David Letterman , Fox News and the Today show. Over a million customers visit the 50,000-square-foot (4,600 m2) store each year to browse through some of the 7,000 items added each day. [5] Most items are sold for a discount of 20–80%. [6] [7]

Contents

History

In 1970, Scottsboro, Alabama insurance salesman Doyle Owens heard from a bus driver friend on ham radio that the Trailways buses had too much unclaimed luggage to deal with. [8] Owens became inspired to buy and sell the luggage, so he drove a borrowed pickup truck and got the bags from Washington D.C. [8] He did not sell airline luggage 1978, when he formed his first airline deal with Eastern Airlines. He then began partnerships with the rest of the United States domestic airlines. [9] In 1995, Doyle sold the store to son Bryan Owens and wife Sharon, who expanded the storefront to its current size, the length of a city block, and introduced a museum and cafe. [9] Oprah featured Unclaimed Baggage in 1995, bringing it national attention. [9]

Operations

Less than one half of one percent of luggage is unclaimed in the United States, and more than half of it is donated or thrown away by Unclaimed Baggage because it is unsuitable for sale. [10] The surviving items are organized within the store by category.

Since 1981, Unclaimed Baggage has held an annual ski sale on the first Saturday in November. [8] [9]

Doyle Owens died on December 3, 2016 at the age of 85. [11]

Since 2020, Unclaimed Baggage has sold some items online. [9]

Owner Bryan Owens told NPR, "It's really like an archaeological dig. You open a bag and you can know what kind of fashions people are wearing, even things like cosmetics or technology, things that they're carrying with them. It really is a cross-section of what's going on in America, and really across the world because the airlines are global."

Museum

The Museum of Found Treasures within the store and features unusual items found in luggage. [12] One display includes props from the film Labyrinth which arrived in lost bags in 1997. Jim Henson allowed the store to keep the items, which included the puppet Hoggle.

In 2023, the store's first "Found Report" documented trends in luggage contents as well as unusual finds, which included a pole vault pole, two live snakes, and medieval armor. [7]

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References

  1. ↑ "Unclaimed Baggage Center, Scottsboro, Alabama". RoadsideAmerica.com.
  2. ↑ Janet Shamlian (October 30, 2007). "The Afterlife for Lost Luggage". allDAY, the official TODAY Show blog. MSNBC.com. Archived from the original on October 31, 2007. Retrieved November 7, 2007.
  3. ↑ "'Lost luggage capital of the world'". Archived from the original on 2016-01-21. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  4. ↑ McManus, Terry (February 25, 1999). "Where Lost Bags End Up". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  5. ↑ Kim, Theodore (January 18, 2005). "Unclaimed bags provide stock for this store". USA Today. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  6. ↑ "How Americans' lost luggage ends up in a small town in the wilderness of Alabama" – via The Economist.
  7. 1 2 Pitrelli, Monica (2024-04-21). "AirPods, Rolex watches, Louis Vuitton bags: A company selling lost luggage items attracts worldwide fans". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
  8. 1 2 3 Peeples, Melanie (24 November 2023). "U.S. airlines lose 2 million suitcases a year. Where do they all go?". National Public Radio . Retrieved 21 August 2024.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 "Our History | Unclaimed Baggage | You Never Know What You'll Find". Unclaimed Baggage. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
  10. ↑ Plante, Stephie Grob (2015-10-20). "This Is a Story About Loss". Vox. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
  11. ↑ WTVC (2016-12-06). "Unclaimed Baggage Center founder passes away". WTVC. Retrieved 2024-08-21.
  12. ↑ Laurence, Haley (2023-04-20). "Unclaimed Baggage Museum: The five coolest things we found there". al. Retrieved 2024-08-21.

34°40′25″N86°2′39″W / 34.67361°N 86.04417°W / 34.67361; -86.04417


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