Marshalls

Unclaimed Baggage: a 1970 store reselling lost luggage that draws a million visitors

Sam profiles Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro, Alabama, founded in 1970 by Hugo Owens, which buys airlines' unclaimed luggage and resells the contents in a Marshalls-like treasure-hunt store. Sam's takeaway: do liquidation reselling as a big in-person store in a low-income area, not online.

“It's called, it's, it's called Unclaimed Baggage. That's all it's called. And what it does, it's based out of, I believe, Alabama, Scottsboro, Alabama. It has like employees. It was launched in 1970 by a guy named Hugo Owens. And when he launched it, basically the idea was he made a deal with the local airport and it says any luggage that has been there for like 30 days or whatever it is, you, you know, we'll take it off your hands.”