Scottsboro, Ala. – It seems fitting that America’s lost airline luggage should end up in a remote small town most people couldn’t find on a map.
Nestled in the Appalachian foothills, a little more than a three-hour drive from Atlanta, Scottsboro is the not-so-final resting place for all those overstuffed suitcases, raincoats, umbrella strollers, cameras and romance novels that, for one reason or another, never are returned to their owners.
The items are bought in bulk by the Unclaimed Baggage Center, which sorts, launders, refurbishes or polishes them before putting them on sale in a 40,000-square-foot store that takes up a city block.
About 60 percent of the stuff is clothing, but the rest can be anything from a Rolex watch to a snowboard.
Some of the more interesting objects over the years: a 40.95-carat emerald; a suit of armor; mummified Egyptian artifacts from 1500 B.C.; and a guidance system for an F-16 fighter jet, which was returned to the federal government.
Since it opened in 1970, the Unclaimed Baggage Center has been a mecca for bargain hunters willing to venture off the beaten path.
It has been featured in everything from Vogue magazine to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and it ranks as one of Alabama’s top tourist destinations.
With air travel rebounding from the post-9/11 slump, the family-owned business is booming.
Revenue is growing 10 percent to 12 percent a year, according to John Marshall, president of parent company OCS Inc.
The company recently purchased a nearby warehouse to sort the daily truckloads of lost bags, a job that used to be done on site.
The business has branched out into lost cargo.
The rows of identical coffee cups at the Unclaimed Baggage Center are probably from cargo, not the contents of someone’s checked bag – although stranger things have been found in people’s luggage.
The center also sells a few items on its website, www.unclaimedbaggage.com, but spokeswoman Brenda Cantrell said the site is used mainly as a marketing tool.
