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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.”
Story
Unclaimed Baggage: turning the 0.3% of lost luggage into a retail business
Shaan describes Unclaimed Baggage, which partnered with airlines to take the roughly 0.3% of luggage that's never claimed, then resells, recycles, or donates the contents from a physical store in Scottsboro, Alabama.
“What they have done is they went and they partnered with every airline and they said, hey, we will take the unclaimed baggage”
Steal thisLock up an exclusive on a waste stream nobody wants, then resell, recycle, and donate it as a feel-good retail brand.
Billy
Doyle Owens: the Alabama everyman who turned lost luggage into gold
Sam celebrates Doyle Owens, the late founder of Unclaimed Baggage — a normal-looking old Southern guy who, in Alabama, built a wildly simple waste-reduction business while the Silicon Valley set looked down on it.
“This fucking guy, this is like the definition of just like turning shit into gold of just like, he's just like, it's a super simple, it's not fancy. It's in Alabama”