World-famous lost luggage store with unusual items like an Egyptian burial mask is USA’s only missing suitcase retailer

The last thing anyone wants after a long flight is for their luggage to never appear on the carousel.

But millions of bags are lost every year; including 33.4 million misused (delayed, damaged or lost) in 2024.

While most bags are returned within 90 days, approximately seven percent of misused bags are never returned to their owners.

For Brits traveling to the US during the festive season, if you’re unlucky enough to lose your luggage and miss the return deadline, there’s a good chance your luggage will be sent to this unique store.

In Scottsboro, Alabama, there is the only US lost luggage retailer called Unclaimed Luggage.

If you’re dreaming of the Insignificant Woman from Jim Henson’s Labyrinth, you’re not far off.

In fact, after the filming of Labyrinth, Hoggle, the 4-foot-2 goblin puppet, got lost in transit and made his way to Scottsboro.

The Jim Henson Company allowed the store to keep the puppet, which is now on display at the Museum of Found Treasures.

In Scottsboro, Alabama, there is the nation’s only lost luggage retailer called Unclaimed Luggage.

Hoggle, the original 4-foot-tall goblin puppet from the 1986 movie Labyrinth, is on display at the Museum of Found Treasures in Unclaimed Baggage

The shop began in 1970 when Doyle Owens bought his first load of unclaimed luggage from Trailways Bus Line in Washington DC, using a borrowed van and a $300 (£224) loan.

Originally the store was only open two days a week, but after Doyle signed a contract with Eastern Airlines it became so popular that the business was opened full time.

In 1981, the store launched its first ski sale, which has become an annual tradition on the first Saturday in November, allowing customers to be the first in line by camping in the parking lot.

By 1995, Doyle’s son Bryan and his wife, Sharon, took over the business and expanded the store to cover more than a city block, adding a cafe and the Museum of Found Treasures, opening in 2023.

The cafe called Cups Café offers its visitors menu options consisting of sandwiches, salads, coffee and dessert treats.

They opened an online store in 2020, the store’s 50th anniversary, but had to postpone their road tour.

The business took its show on the road in 2022, touring all 50 states to showcase its collection of extraordinary finds, and the Found Treasures museum opened in 2023.

Approximately 7,000 items are added to the store every day, and items are often heavily discounted

Products listed on the website include designer clothing, jackets, bags, accessories, home goods, sporting goods and electronics.

Some of the unusual items found include a bearskin packed in salt, an Egyptian funerary mask, a live rattlesnake and shrunken human heads (pictured)

When bags arrive at the store, they are sorted by employees into three categories: resale, reuse or recycling.

Some of the unusual items found include a bearskin packed in salt, an Egyptian funerary mask, a live rattlesnake and shrunken human heads.

More than a million people visit the store every year and 7,000 products are added every day.

The store has a large social media following with over 182,000 followers on Instagram, where they share some of the items on sale.

Approximately one-third of items are sold, and prices are based on estimated retail value and condition.

If a product is repurposed, it is donated to communities around the world. If items need to be disposed of, they make sure all personal information is shredded and the items are recycled appropriately.

Products listed on the website include designer clothing, jackets, bags, accessories, home goods, sporting goods and electronics.

Three Birkin bags and a men’s platinum presidential Rolex watch were found in the store’s past, selling for $32,000 (£23,907).

More than a million people visit the store every year and 7,000 products are added every day.

In the UK, London Heathrow Airport holds lost items for three months from the date they are found or returned and may charge you up to £25 for the recovery of lost items.

However, boxes left unattended are sometimes given to auction houses, where the bags (and all their contents) are then sold to the highest bidder.

There are many different auction houses that sell lost luggage, and each one does something different.

Some auction houses let you see what’s inside the case before you buy, while others just have a description; for example ‘women’s clothes’.

Prices can vary between £10 and £80 depending on whether the cases are full or empty.