Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Treasure Hunting at Scottsboro's Unclaimed Baggage Store - TPR's In Focus - August 26, 2026

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Treasure Hunting at Scottsboro's Unclaimed Baggage Store - TPR's In Focus - August 26, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Janice Hawkins Cultural Arts Park on
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  the main campus of Troy University,
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  featuring the International Arts Center, the Fred Noll Hollis
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  Museum, and the Hua Bao Zhu Gallery.
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  More information at troy.edu/artspark.
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  From Troy Public Radio,
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  this is In Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Today, In Focus kicks off its new tri-state travel series.
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  Series with a visit to Scottsboro,
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  Alabama by Skype. If you're planning a trip,
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  where can you get just about everything you need or could think of?
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  The Unclaimed Baggage Store, of course. It may be a little
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  overwhelming when you walk in because it takes up a city block,
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  but enough retail therapy is there for everyone.
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  Sunny Hood, public relations director, is our guest, and she tells
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  us But the Unclaimed Baggage Store is also committed to
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  helping the community through its philanthropic programs.
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  Sonny Hood, welcome to Troy Public Radio. Hi. Thank you
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  so much for having me. You are talking with us
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  from Scottsboro, Alabama, which is home of the very famous Unclaimed
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  Baggage store. That is correct. Yes. So Unclaimed
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  Baggage is the nation's only retailer of
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  lost luggage. We're actually one of the top tourist attractions
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  here in the state of Alabama. So we welcome over a
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  million people every single year. We have really anything
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  you can think of. We like to say that our guests never
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  know what they're going to find. It's truly a treasure hunt. We stock
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  this sales floor with up to 7,000 new items every single
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  day. Inventory is constantly changing and it's
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  a treasure hunt. So when did it all start?
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  So Unclaimed Baggage was founded in 1970
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  by a gentleman named Mr. Doyle Owens,
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  who was an insurance salesman here in Scottsboro,
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  Alabama. He had a friend who worked for Trailways
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  Bus Lines up in Washington, D.C. Who gave him
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  a call one day and explained how they had a problem
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  with passengers leaving their bags behind and they didn't have
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  a solution for it. So Mr. Owen saw that as an opportunity.
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  He borrowed $300 and his dad's pickup
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  truck, drove up to DC, got his first load of bags,
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  brought them back here to Scottsboro, and he and his wife set
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  out the contents for the public to shop, put an ad in the local paper
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  announcing it, And they ended up selling out the very first day.
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  So he knew he had something going there,
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  continued partnering with Trailways for a bit, and then realized
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  he needed to make a decision. Am I going to sell insurance
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  or am I going to sell luggage? Luckily, he chose luggage
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  because here we are 54 years later as the
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  nation's only retailer of lost luggage. And when you walk in the store,
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  it is just almost overwhelming, Sonny,
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  the amount of merchandise there. So where does it all come from?
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  So Unclaimed Baggage has partnerships with all of
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  the major airlines. We also partner with other travel
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  and transportation companies, hospitality industries, really anywhere
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  an item might go lost or unclaimed. We step in
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  as a partner to provide a sustainable solution for it. Our primary partner
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  is, of course, with the airlines. And so how that works is a bag
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  has to be lost for a minimum of 90 days before
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  it's officially deemed as unclaimed. During that 90-day period, 90-day search period.
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  Airlines, they have baggage tracers who do an extensive baggage tracing
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  process to try to reunite owners with their property,
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  and they're going to be successful over 99.5% of
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  the time. But if that fraction of a percent of lost bags still
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  remain unclaimed, then we buy them sight unseen.
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  They're brought back here to our operations facilities here in Scottsboro,
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  and then our team of bag openers step in and go through the contents
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  and determine how we're going to give new life to each item inside.
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  So give us an idea of some of the odd
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  things that have been found. Oh goodness, this is probably
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  the most common question we get is what's the weirdest or coolest
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  thing you've ever found. The most shocking thing to me was
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  a live rattlesnake. He was tucked away in the outside
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  pocket of a duffel bag, and our assumption is that he
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  found his way in there via transit or while it was being stored.
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  We have found ancient Egyptian artifacts dated
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  back to 1500 BC. The most expensive
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  item we've ever sold was a men's platinum presidential Rolex watch
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  that retailed for $64,000, and we
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  sold it for $32,000 to a pretty excited
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  watch collector. But we actually have an entire museum
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  exhibit located within the store. The Unclaimed Baggage Museum
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  houses around 100 of the most unique and fascinating
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  items we've ever unpacked. What is the square footage of the
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  facility? So our store is 50,000 square
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  feet of retail space. We stretch an entire city block.
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  So if we ever have a first-time guest or someone who's trying to plan a
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  visit to Unclaimed Baggage, we always suggest allotting a minimum of 2
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  hours to shop the store. Store, apparel departments, ladies,
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  men's, children's. We also have a fine jewelry counter,
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  a designer luxury counter,
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  electronics, home goods, health and beauty aids. You can
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  spend the entire day with us. We have an in-store cafe
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  where you can stay and have lunch. We have the baggage experience where
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  a guest is invited every single day around 2:00 PM to actually go
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  through the contents and sort through unopened bags. So we've
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  become a retail destination that attracts people from all over the
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  world. Sunny, back to the merchandise. We know
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  that this once belonged to someone else. Before it is
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  sold, is it cleaned? Yes, we actually
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  have the largest laundry operation in the state of Alabama.
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  We are laundering around 60,000 items a month,
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  which is more than your typical laundromat will do in an entire year.
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  Everything is going to be nice and clean before it hits the sales floor.
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  And I know you've extended your hours because the demand was so
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  great. Yes. So we're very excited to announce that we are now open until
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  8:00 PM Central Time, Monday through Saturday.
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  We're still closed on Sundays. Sunny, I want to get serious
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  for a moment because there is a nonprofit component
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  to this operation. It's called Reclaimed for Good.
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  What does that foundation do? So Reclaimed for Good
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  is honestly the heartbeat behind unclaimed baggage and what we do.
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  I mentioned that, of course, a lot of these items are sold here in Scottsboro
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  or on our online store, unclaimedbaggage.com, but then around a third
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  of the items we unpack are going to be donated. Our goal when
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  going through these bags is how do we do the most good with
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  these items. A lot of the times that looks like giving it to someone in
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  need. A few examples: we are the top provider of prescription
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  eyeglasses to the Lions Clubs. We have donated almost 2
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  million pairs of prescription eyeglasses to them throughout our 20-year
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  partnership, and these eyeglasses are distributed all around the globe to
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  people who don't have access to eye care or those resources.
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  Our in-house charity is called Love Luggage. Around 10
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  years ago or so, we read an article from the New York Times that
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  explained how so many children in the foster care system have to
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  carry their items in black trash bags when they're transitioning to a new home.
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  And that was just a heartbreaking message to hear,
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  just the image of such a hard day. So we invented
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  Love Luggage, where we take hard-sided suitcases, invite guests
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  or community members to paint them with bright images, uplifting messages,
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  and then those are donated to foster children in our area. It's a very special
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  initiative we're able to be a part of. The list really goes on with the
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  way we're able to give back with these items, but it's definitely one of the
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  most rewarding parts about the company. Well, I want to thank you
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  for your time today, Sunny, and kicking off our new series,
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  Tri-State Travels, and certainly the Unclaimed Baggage Store
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  is on the list. So thank you so much.
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  Thank you so much. Joining us by Skype
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  for the kickoff of the In Focus Tri-State Travel
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  series was Sunny Hood, public relations director
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  for the Unclaimed Baggage store in Scottsboro,
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  Alabama. The store also is involved in
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  community service through its Reclaimed
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  for Good and Love Luggage philanthropic
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  initiatives. More information about the center can be found at the website
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  unclaimedbaggage.com. Thanks for
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  joining us today for the Tri-State Travel Series from In Focus.
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  The program is available wherever you get your podcasts.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported
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  Troy Public Radio.