by Sheila O'connor

ince the dawn of the jet-age, a continuing “joke” has been “breakfast in New York, lunch in Los Angeles, luggage in Houston!” Over 99 per cent of errant baggage is returned to its owner, but what happens to the rest? It is sold to the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama, about 40 miles from Huntsville.

Love a good bargain? Who doesn’t? Some women (and men) are even “born to shop.” And there’s no better place to put that instinct into practice than at the Center.

“It’s a treasure hunt. You never know what to expect,” says Brenda Cantrell, the Center’s Marketing Director. With over 7,000 new items being added every single day, those words definitely seem true. If you have ever wondered where your lost baggage ends up, it’s probably right there in Scottsboro — and you can buy it back!

“It’s a treasure hunt. You never know what to expect.”

The store began back in 1970 when Doyle Owens, who originally sold insurance, was given a couple of unclaimed suitcases by one of the airlines. Expecting them to sell within a couple of weeks, he knew he was on to something when all the items were gone in a day. That “something” is now the only unclaimed baggage store in the country that gets one million visitors a year. The Center receives unclaimed baggage and freight from both the airlines and bus companies.
It’s not that the companies don’t try to match the luggage with its owners. They do. But after 90 days, during which 99 percent of the baggage is reunited with its owner, they give up. By then, passengers have usually been compensated (up to $2,500 per passenger). The Center then purchases the bags, sight unseen, and brings them to the outlet in Scottsboro.

The items are then sorted and laundered. Books, designer clothes, electronics, kitchen items and, of course, luggage are just some of them. “We get 40,000 items in a slow month!” says Cantrell, whose own wedding ring is a platinum ‘reclaimed’ item from the store. An antique at a great price—now that’s not only romantic, it’s practical, too. They are then given to a team of pricers who will mark them down 20 – 80% off the original retail price. The 40,000 square foot store, which covers a city block, sells approximately a third of the items it receives, donates another third to charity, and throws about a third away (“These items are unsuitable for our store. They could be things that are not appropriate for a family outlet,” says Cantrell).

One large donation the Center makes is the 16,000 eye-glasses that are given to the Lions Club — equal to one percent of all the donations that club receives annually.
Since the items are on sale every day, no “sales” as such are offered, but once a year, on the first Saturday in November, there is a snow and ski equipment sale, timed just right for the upcoming ski season.

Despite all the sales that are made, some items just seem to want to spend more time at the Unclaimed Baggage Center. More than once a lost item has been sold and then found its way right back again, having been lost a second time. “We recognize our own tags when the items get lost and come back to us again,” says Cantrell. “We have no way of knowing who the second owner was and we just hope that with the next sale, the item stays with its new owner!”

You won’t want to miss these bargains. “One of the country’s best kept shopping secrets,” says Oprah Winfrey. And it is. People traveling south often make it a regular stop. Plan to spend about half a day here scooping up the bargains. There’s everything for the family and the house here. That southern sun can wait. Gotta satisfy that primitive instinct — there’s shopping to be done.

Unclaimed Baggage Center: tel. 256/259-1525; www.unclaimedbaggage.com.

Return to: Potpourri , Top, Home.