Being raised in Alabama, I’ve got plenty of state pride. Yet, as a student of Journalism at the University of Alabama, my career opportunities are slim here. I know I won’t live in Alabama forever, so I’ve created my own bucket list.
The Alabama Bucket List: Unclaimed Baggage Center
I once heard a story about a woman who took her granddaughter to a store and a bought her a doll that had been previously used. They took the doll home, where there, the head of the doll popped off, revealing hundreds of dollars, rolled tightly inside.
The same store houses Hoggle, the Muppet from Jim Henson’s “The Labyrinth.” It sells apparel, electronics, books, designer fashion and has even been known to receive shrunken heads in its shipments.
The store has been featured on Oprah, The Today Show, The New York Times, The Huffington Post and many other notable shows and news outlets. Although the store has been featured on these prestigious media outlets, it’s also known for the many incredible bargains it offers its customers.
The store is none other than Scottsboro, Alabama’s Unclaimed Baggage Center.
Unclaimed Baggage Center is a store that buys and sells lost luggage from airports, trains, buses, etc. The baggage arrives and Unclaimed Baggage Center employees sort through it, decide whether to sell it, clean it, trash it or donate it.
If an item makes the cut, it’s then cleaned and put on the floor to sell. These items are sold at mere fractions of their original price. Employees sort through about 7,000 new items daily, so there’s something new with each visit.
Each day at 2:30, employees roll a suitcase out to the sales floor to demonstrate to the visitors what it's like to process the unclaimed luggage. They might even encounter a surprise or two.
It all began in 1970 when a man named Doyle Owens drove to Washington, D.C. in a borrowed pickup truck to buy his first load of unclaimed baggage to sell off a couple of card tables. The business took off from there and has grown into a massive establishment, taking up the space of an entire city block and housing the state’s largest laundry facility.
The Center, consisting of 40,000 square feet, also houses Cups Cafe, where visitors can enjoy breakfast scones, Barry’s Famous Hickory Smoked BBQ sandwich, chicken wraps, salads, Starbucks coffee and Dippin’ Dots.
I’ve personally visited the store twice and have found insane bargains (like 75 percent off of the already low Unclaimed Baggage Center prices on winter items at the turn of the spring and vice versa).
Unclaimed Baggage Center is visited by a million people a year, from all over the country and all over the world. If you’re interested in creating your own Alabama Bucket List be sure to check out the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro. You never know what you’ll find!For more information on Unclaimed Baggage Center, visit their website at unclaimedbaggage.com.
