Your Next Shopping Trip Should Be To The Unclaimed Baggage Center In Alabama

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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I have this image burned into my mind of an empty luggage carousel at the airport with just one suitcase on it. I think it was from a movie or something. Or maybe it was just a GIF I saw online. Either way, you know what ends up happening to luggage with no one to claim it? It eventually ends up in Scottsboro, Alabama at the Unclaimed Baggage Center. Shit sounds pretty ominous, right? But Racked came through and it honestly seems pretty fucking incredible.

All of the items left on planes and trains and all lost and unclaimed luggage ends up here. While more than 99.9% of luggage finds its way back to its rightful owner, there is still 40,000 square feet of stuff that never finds its way back home. Most of it doesn't even see the sales floor as it's donated. But a few stragglers make it to display at discounts up to 80% off. We're talking Prada shoes, untouched Hermès scarves and a ton of lost jewelry.

Something this weird and off-beat would of course become a tourist attraction. You can visit and experience what it's like when the new stuff shows up to be sorted between scouring for great deals. The UBC even organizes events to sell off merch. If you can detach yourself from the terror of losing your things, their sentimental value and the fact that these pieces used to belong to someone else, this place seems incredible. Who would have thought that the most interesting shopping experience is actually an enormous plaza in the deep south filled packed with adrift memories?

[Photo via Racked]

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