If you have ever lost your luggage while traveling, you need to plan a road trip to Alabama. Known as the Lost Luggage Capital of the World, Scottsboro provides the opportunity to search for treasures from around the world and to purchase them as your own at a locally owned retail store-Unclaimed Baggage Center.

Merchandise at the Unclaimed Baggage Center comes from baggage that has gone unclaimed by airline passengers, lost articles left on planes or in airports and unclaimed air cargo.

The store only buys the items once they have gone through an extensive search by the airlines to rejoin the luggage with their owners, which can sometimes take more than 90 days. Then, baggage that are not matched go through the airline claims settlement process. Ultimately, the items are held at the airlines for 100 days or more before the Unclaimed Baggage Center has access to the luggage.

The Unclaimed Baggage Center is the nation's only merchant of unclaimed and lost airline baggage. Because of this, shopping at the Unclaimed Baggage Center is a unique shopping experience, as visitors can buy high dollar items for incredibly discounted prices.

Sounds perfect for college students, right? Actually, many people around the world think it sounds good for them, and not only college students. According to the Unclaimed Baggage Center's guestbook, thousands of tourists come each week to shop! Nearly one million visitors a year come from around the world to search through the racks and shelves for newfound deals.

I love meeting the many different types of people that come from all over and shop.   Elizabeth Broyles This store not only carries the mundane items of cloths and accessories. Shoppers can find anything from kayaks and other sports gear to first edition books and original paintings.

Additional items include: digital cameras, shoes, coats, formal gowns, eyewear, rugs, children's toys, business suits, CDs and DVDs, golf clubs, purses, swim suits, hats, baby strollers and cribs, portable DVD players, fine jewelry and of course luggage.

The Unclaimed Baggage Center also features a museum that features the history of the company. The store also has an Annex building that is home to an abundance of house ware items for any kitchen or home.

All of this sound too overwhelming to keep up with? The Unclaimed Baggage Center does not think so! They have about 135 employees to help them run the show. The store collects, refurbishes, categorizes and displays on the selling floor about two million items each year.  Employees stock about 7,000 items in the store on an average day! There is a constant turnover of inventory and selection of unique items.

How are they able to do this? The Unclaimed Baggage Center also operates a warehouse where new luggage is shipped to be categorized. At the warehouse, they also operate the largest laundry service in Scottsboro where they dry clean and launder any clothing item that does not have the original tags on it that needs cleaning.

Because of this policy, all items look pristine when they are placed on the selling floor. The items sold are not like items you would find at an average consignment store by any means.

Unclaimed Baggage Center has uncovered a number of strange and unique items over the years of its business. Because the store purchases each unit of luggage sight unseen from the airlines, the units could literally have anything in them!

Some of the most memorable include a unit of luggage filled with Egyptian artifacts, which included an ancient mummified falcon, burial mask and scarabs that had been buried in a pharaoh's tomb.

Other unusual items found at the Unclaimed Baggage Center include two Lotus Elan racing bikes, an original painting valued at $20,000 (but was sold for $60), a suitcase full of Versace dresses right off the runway, a full suit of armor and a dazzling 5.8 carat diamond ring found in the toe of a sock!

"I love meeting the many different types of people that come from all over and shop," Elizabeth Broyles, an employee, said. Broyles has been stationed at the fitting rooms for 10 years. She further explained to me of her experiences working there.  She told me of a time she found unusual adult clothing items in the warehouse. "Unclaimed Baggage Center is Christian oriented," she said. "We don't put any sort of offensive items on the floor to sell."

The Unclaimed Baggage Center only sells one-third of all the items they purchase from the airlines. One-third of the items contained in purchased luggage is donated to various charities, such as eyeglasses to Lions Club International, clothing and luggage to the Department of Human Resources and clothing to homeless shelters. The other third of items is not suitable to sell, for numerous reasons.

After hours of shopping in Unclaimed Baggage Center, visitors and locals alike can enjoy coffee at Cups Espresso Café, which proudly brews Starbucks Coffee. Cups is the only place in Scottsboro that offers cappuccino and late coffee drinks. Cups also has gourmet food items on the menu, such as chicken salad sandwiches, Caesar salads and luscious desserts.

The Scottsboro flagship retail complex, Unclaimed Baggage Center, has approximately 40,000 square feet of retail space and takes up an entire city block near historic downtown Scottsboro. There is also another store in Boaz, Alabama, which is a branch of the main store in Scottsboro.

The Unclaimed Baggage Center was founded in 1970 by Doyle & Sue Owens, parents of current owner Bryan Owens, established the store as a sole proprietorship, incorporating it in 1978.