Alabama Based Store Specializes In Materials Of Unclaimed Baggage From Nation's Airports Then Resells In Retail Space
Lost luggage is a traveler’s worst nightmare. But what happens when the baggage is never claimed? Much of it ends up at UBC, the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. It is the only store in America of its kind.
It is estimated that every year one percent of baggage goes unclaimed. This baggage can have a wealth of goods including clothes, laptops, tablets, jewelry...and much more. Airlines spend 90 days vigorously searching for the missing owner, but after that time period expires, they sell the unclaimed luggage, making little to no profit off of the items.
Deemed the “lost luggage capital of the world”, the Unclaimed Baggage Center is the largest purchaser of unclaimed baggage and freight in the world. Yearly, over one million items are collected and cleaned for sale. While many may wonder if buyers contact the airports and how the luggage arrives, UBC has a contract obligation with the airlines and is not at liberty to speak on this matter.
The store has been visited by over one million customers from all 50 states as well as 40 foreign countries, and all items are priced at 20-50% of its retail value. Approximately one third of all unclaimed goods make it to the sales floor at UBC, with the unsellable items being thrown away or donated to one of the many charities that UBC works with, such as The Lions Club Sight First program and the Salvation Army. Included in these charities is a special program called “Luv Luggage”, where luggage is painted by local elementary students in the community and then donated to foster children, with an encouraging letter from the students in each case.
The items discovered inside the luggage can be described as “strange” and “heartfelt”…pieces range from taxidermy animals to wedding dresses and bands. It begs certain questions to be asked? “Why did this wedding dress go unclaimed?” “Were they on the way to the wedding?” “What happened?” These answers become lost to time. What is consistent is that the contents of passenger’s baggage hold a snapshot of who they were: businessmen…kids…moms…football fans. “You can really get an interesting insight at what’s going on among the masses…when you see what they pack and how they pack,” explains Brenda Cantrell, who has been the Brand Ambassador at UBC for the last 17 years.
One of the most valuable luggage stories that Brenda recounts was back in 1998, when a 5.6 carat diamond solitaire ring was found tucked in the corner of a suitcase and wrapped in a dingy rag: “You [just] don’t know…Why in the world would someone would pack [this] ring?” Brenda also tells a heartwarming story of a woman whose twin sister had just passed away. She came to the store and purchased a compact mirror: “She opened up this compact mirror and it had her sister’s first name initialed [inside]. There was something engraved on there to the effect of ‘every time you look in this mirror, you’ll see me.’ She felt like it was her twin sister that had passed away.”
“There are no ‘typical’ customers,” explains Cantrell. “We see all types of shoppers that come in. We have people who shop with us everyday, who shop for budgetary purposes, and then you have your adventure seekers and thrill seekers.”
The history of the store is an entrepreneur’s dream. Back in 1970, founder Doyle Owens had a far-fetched idea. Borrowing a pickup truck and taking out a 300 dollar loan, he traveled to see his friend who was working at Trailways Bus Lines in Washington D.C. to purchase the unclaimed luggage abandoned there that his friend had found no owner for. He began selling the items on card tables out of a rented house. He quickly realized that he was on to something. Within a month, he quit his job working in the insurance business to open what is now known as the Unclaimed Baggage Center. While this was a major risk with a wife and two children, it proved to be a highly profitable choice and the business has now passed down to Owen’s son, Bryan.
The current day store is very organized and clean, with over 40,000 pieces of clothing being laundered monthly. At the front of the store though, there is a small museum containing a 1970s cultural artifact attributed to the late great David Bowie: the original, authentic Hoggle. Hoggle made his home at UBC in the early 80’s when he arrived at the store in a crate with various other movie props. While UBC is unsure of the details on how he made it to them, the Henson Company recognizes him as the real Hoggle from the movie, “Labyrinth”.
The store also holds a daily “baggage experience” which occurs every day at 2:30pm. For this, a random customer gets selected to go through an unprocessed suitcase and see how the items are sorted. Customers can sign up to partake in this event at the guest services desk and are randomly selected. However, they're not able to keep the items they find.
The store also endeavors to entertain the guests who pay UBC a visit by offering a completely different experience than a traditional department store: “We have what we call our 60-second showdown,” explains Cantrell. “We take three suitcases and pack them with thirty similar items, and go through a process [and] register people [to participate]. We pick three out of the crowd, [and tell them] they have 60 seconds to put on as many unclaimed items as correctly as possible. We give a gift card to whoever got on the most.”
One of the other charities UBC sponsors is named “Reclaimed For Good”. “It is our mission to ‘reclaim for good’ what was once unclaimed,” explains Founder Owens. Over half of the merchandise deemed unsellable is given new use. This includes broken wheelchairs, eyeglasses, medical supplies, and clothing. Cantrell also adds: “We have the opportunity with these unclaimed items to make a life changing difference in other people’s worlds”.
The Unclaimed Baggage Center is considered by many to be a “bucket list destination” since there is always something new to be discovered here…a treasure trove for any likely RV adventurer.
Lindsay Roundtree
Pursuing a degree at the University Of Utah in Psychology, Lindsay has written for Underground Barber among others. sHE enjoys hiking, coffee and cooking.
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