Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

Your Lost Luggage Is For Sale in This Store in Alabama

by | August 21, 2018

I can hear the screams of agony. I can see the tears flowing. I see the bridesmaid left out of the wedding photos because her dress never made it to the wedding. I see the road warrior shaking with rage because his laptop has disappeared forever. I see the zombie stares from the airline reps who don’t really care.  I hear them parroting the company policy you agreed to in the fine print on your airline ticket.

That’s what fills my mind as I walk through what is, for travelers like Wendy and me, the creepiest store in the world. Even though we drove several hours out of our way just to see it. Even though the place is light and airy—even cheerful. The merchandise, though used, is practically new and includes many top brands and designers. The store is as tidy as Grandma’s house, and the employees greet you with a genuine welcome and the hospitality that the South is famous for.

This is the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. It’s 40,000 square feet of your stuff, bought in bulk from the airlines’ baggage equivalent of the dead letter office.

Unclaimed Baggage Center laptops

The laptop section is scarier than a Stephen King novel.

Unclaimed Baggage Center swimsuits

The swimsuit section scares too. For most women, a flattering swimsuit is one of the toughest items to replace when you’re traveling.

Think of the Unclaimed Baggage Center as a nice-smelling Salvation Army or Goodwill thrift store, full of stuff you had no intention of selling. In fact, probably some of your best stuff. Remember what was in your suitcase the last time you traveled? That’s what you’ll find in this store’s aisles and racks … along with displays of bizarre keepsakes discovered in lost luggage over the years.

Unclaimed Baggage Center religious objects

These precious religious objects, found in lost luggage, are on display but not for sale.

The Unclaimed Baggage Center started in 1970 when Doyle Owens bought a pick-up truckload of “unclaimed baggage” from Trailways Bus Lines in Washington, D.C., and brought it to Scottsboro for resale. Today, the store’s stock comes almost solely from the airlines. After an airline has spent 90 days attempting in vain to reunite passenger and bag, and after restitution has been paid, the Unclaimed Baggage Center buys the unlucky luggage sight unseen and hauls it to Alabama. The contents of each bag are triaged into 25 sub-categories: sell, donate, launder, trash, etc.

No different than any big department store, the facility is divided into sections such as men’s, women’s, and children’s fashion; jewelry; shoes; formalwear; swimwear; sporting goods; electronics (laptops, cameras, cell phones); office equipment; etc. Naturally, there’s a suitcase department too. Prices seemed a tad higher than thrift-shop prices, but good values were easily found. Camera equipment and sporting-goods prices seemed fair. All computers’ files have been deleted, and the software has been restored to operating systems only.

Unclaimed Baggage Center paddleboard

Passenger to baggage services staff: “Well, it’s a paddle board, it’s blue and gray, it’s 12 feet long…”

Unclaimed Baggage Center cell phones

Here’s a quick way to get over your smartphone addiction.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, fewer than three out of every 1,000 bags checked on domestic flights were lost last year. But the Unclaimed Baggage Center stocks 7,000 new items every day.

In a daily event promoted as “The Unclaimed Baggage Experience,” a lost suitcase gets “processed” in front of an audience. One lucky customer is picked to be the first to open it, with everyone else watching. It’s part archaeological dig, part gift-opening time at a birthday party, part slowing down to see an accident on the freeway. Items in the suitcase are divided into four categories, with the event emcee and the audience helping to make decisions to sell, launder, donate or trash.

The Unclaimed Baggage Center even offers a free personal shopper service: “Our top notch personal shoppers will help you build your summer wardrobe, spruce up your office style or create a look for a special event!” reads the sign. You can even become an “Unclaimed Baggage Insider.” Just text “UBC Insider” to 33233, and you can be the first to know about “Roll-out Tuesday Highlights” and more.

Unclaimed Baggage Center formalwear

The Formal Wear department

Unclaimed Baggage Center bridalwear

Bridal accessories

Unclaimed Baggage Center shoes

Formal shoes too—at a steep discount

I can understand the attraction of this store to non-travelers. The Unclaimed Baggage Center claims to get a million visitors per year. I’ve heard about this place for decades, and it was well worth the visit. If only I didn’t know the backstory.

The Mission: Return a Lost Item to Its Owner

Just a few minutes into the Unclaimed Baggage Center, I realized what I had to do: Sleuth out an item and glean enough evidence to help me return it to its rightful owner.

I found the sort of thing I was looking for in the Sporting Goods department: a lacrosse helmet bearing a Zurich Lions decal. That decal was a huge clue. Lacrosse is a North American sport. There couldn’t be too many Swiss lacrosse players. How hard could it be to track one down?

Unclaimed Baggage Center sporting goods

Tim found what he was looking for in the Sporting Goods department.

Unclaimed Baggage Center helmet

How hard could it be to find a member of a Swiss lacrosse team?

Standing in the Sporting Goods department, I did a quick Internet search on my phone and found an email address for the Zurich Lions lacrosse team in Switzerland. The tag on the helmet said it had arrived at the store on March 29, 2018. It was initially priced at $69.95 but had been marked down twice. I bought it for $35 and sent an email to the Zurich Lions.

The president of Zurich Lacrosse was amazed and connected me with the helmet’s owner, Johannes Lohner, now living in Vienna. Johannes had played for the Zurich Lions while studying in Switzerland—he got the helmet when playing at the European championship—and, after returning to his native Vienna, he played for Austria at the world championship.

The helmet was actually never in his checked luggage, Johannes says: He unintentionally left it at the gate in Vienna when boarding a Lufthansa flight to the U.S. (He’d spent the previous night celebrating his army promotion, so that may have been a factor.)  United Airlines took over the hunt for the lost item and never found it. Johannes, who also played for the U.C. Berkeley lacrosse team while pursuing his master’s degree there, says he’s been playing with borrowed helmets ever since.

So I shipped the helmet to Johannes … and, a couple of weeks later, received an ebulient thank-you note.  “I really enjoyed my time in Berkeley,” Johannes writes, “and your gesture is the best example to show how great and open you Americans really are.”  He also sent a photo of himself reunited with his helmet.  And my boys and I have been invited by the Zurich Lions to play lacrosse with them the next time we’re in Switzerland.

guy with lacrosse helmet

Here’s Johannes reunited with his lacrosse helmet in Vienna.

But Wait There’s More in Scottsboro, Alabama

Scottsboro, which sits an hour southwest of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and two hours northeast of Birmingham, has a charming, historic town square that looks like a movie set, with the county courthouse right in the middle. The town is known for the landmark “Scottsboro Boys” legal case: In 1931 nine African-American teens were falsely accused of raping two white women on a train passing through town. After several trials, the Supreme Court threw out the convictions— because African-Americans had been systematically excluded from the jury and the boys had not been granted due process—thus setting landmark legal precedents.

We visited Scottsboro in the early morning, so many shops were not open yet, but the Variety Bake Shop was. The shop is a blast from the past, and the maple glazed donut was the best I’ve had in years. Maybe ever. The Variety Bake Shop had no iced coffee for Wendy, though, so for that we went to Pine Bros. Coffee Co., a local hangout with an indie vibe.

Scottsboro’s other must-visit is Payne’s Sandwich Shop and Soda Fountain, which opened in 1869. Talk about a throwback movie set, complete with black-and-white floor and red-vinyl-covered counter stools. It’s the kind of place my buddies and I used to ride our bikes to.

How Not To Lose Your Luggage in the First Place

A trip to the Unclaimed Baggage Center will convince you to take extra precautions the next time you entrust your luggage to an airline.

* Make sure your name, mobile phone number, and email address are attached to the bag in a way that can’t get caught and removed in the machinery of the baggage systems.

* Put the same information on at least one piece of paper taped inside the bag too, so that it is the first thing someone will see when opened. I always put my name and mobile number on our kids’ carry-ons too, as well as on electronics and other valuables inside the carry-ons.

* If your luggage is the same color as everyone else’s, then affix something to your bag to differentiate it—say, a red ribbon, or a purple handle—so that other passengers don’t mistake your bag for theirs and run off with it.

* Use your smartphone to snap a quick photo of each bag you check. If the airline loses it, a picture of your bag will be worth a thousand words.

* Get to the baggage carousel before it starts disgorging bags. If you’re not there when your luggage comes out, it’s more likely to go astray.

Unclaimed Baggage Center Wendy parking lot

The Unclaimed Baggage Center can make for an interesting detour on a Deep South road trip.

Unclaimed Baggage Center store exterior

Be a smarter traveler: Read real travelers’ reviews of Wendy’s WOW List and use it to plan your next trip. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter @wendyperrin, and Instagram @wendyperrin, and sign up for her weekly newsletter to stay in the know.

Great Inspiration for Graduation Trips

Wendy Perrin | September 23, 2024

Where to Go in October: The Best Places to Travel

Brook Wilkinson | October 16, 2023

Where You Can Travel If You’re Vaccinated—No Testing Required

WendyPerrin.com | August 3, 2023

So You Think YOU’ve Traveled?

Timothy Baker | November 15, 2023

Ask a Teenager: 3 Cool Things to Do on a Family Trip in Israel

Doug Baker | March 12, 2023

A Private Gulet on Turkey’s Aegean Coast: Wendy’s Family Trip

Wendy Perrin | August 14, 2023

Where to Go in February: The Best Places to Travel

Brook Wilkinson | January 3, 2024

9 Comments

  1. Nelle Ocimad

    I don’t think it’s creepy. You know no more about the stuff at the Salvation Army or Goodwill than you do about the stuff there. You just know it came in a suitcase. My husband and I were there a couple of years ago nd had a great morning rummaging around. He bought an I Pad at a very good price and has used it continually since then.
    Good tips on the bakery.

  2. Lee Ernst

    Once after a trip my bag was missing. When I returned home there was a message on my home phone that it was being held at the airport in our home city. Immediately I went to the airport to the police lost luggage locker room and they searched allowing me to stand by the doorway as they lift bag after bag and it was not there. When the checkout list was viewed it showed the bag entered by not having left and yet it was not there. End of story…

  3. Elizabeth Belzer

    I work at Newark Airport, running a Lost and Found Department for an international airline. Please everyone, put your name, phone number, and email address INSIDE EVERY BAG, be it checked luggage or a carry-on. Grab your business card, and write, “This bag belongs to” and throw it into an interior pocket. You’d be amazed how many times bags are tagless because the mechanical belts caught a bag and ripped everything off. Also: White-Out is forever. On the bottom and back side of your bag, write your first name and initials in White Out. Have your kids draw a character. Anything remarkable. Duct tape gets gooey over time and will come unstuck and clog the belts. White Out will differentiate your bag from everyone else’s. Forget about pink ribbons. They will not help us get your bag back to YOU. And, remember, airline counter agents are human and make mistakes. Be vigilant. Watch them when you check in. Make sure they print and affix a bag tag to your suitcase, and that they give you the receipt! If you are prone to losing this little slip of paper, snap a photo of it, and then stow it away in your wallet. It is your only proof that you checked in a piece of luggage, and you will need it if you need to file a claim.

  4. The Schmave

    What would be really cool is if everyone who visits takes it upon himself or herself to endeavor to return one personal item to one person. We’ve always talked about going there, but what you did is so much more fun than just buying other people’s stuff. that they didn’t mean to give away.

  5. Sonja Haggert

    A really informative article. Thanks for the tips on how not to lose luggage. I traveled for business for 25 years and there were suggestions I did not know.

  6. judy randall

    I’ve been here several times and have found so many treasures! Definitely worth the trip! Especially if you know the top brands you can find amazing deals. On one trip I bought my husband a perfect-fit Burberry jacket for $10. He still wears it years later. I’ve found stunning jewelry, several suitcases, and more. Just GO.

  7. April Cole

    I just about burst out in tears when I read that you were able to return the helmet to that player in Switzerland! You’re returning memories – so special!

    I’ve now put this on my “must see” list when visiting the South. Will have to do some shopping and will focus on finding an item which we can return to the owner as well.

  8. VICTORIA MCGLYNN

    What an interesting article!
    You are the first to address this problem.
    And the store.
    So good to know.

    Vicky McGlynn

  9. judy nagy

    Oh how I wish this store wasn’t so far from anything! I’d be there every month. I know I should feel sorry for the owners of the stuff, but the excitement of such bargains quickly overrides that. Great job on the lacrosse helmet, Tim!

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Our Latest Newsletters