A New Home for Lost, Found, and Reclaimed Luggage

Unclaimed Baggage, a one-of-a-kind retailer based in Scottsboro, Alabama, is the only store in the U.S. that buys and resells lost airline luggage. Since 1970, this family-owned business has given countless “orphaned” items a second life, whether through resale, donation, or recycling.

What began with founder Hugo Doyle Owens driving a 1965 Chevy pickup to collect his first load of unclaimed luggage has grown into a beloved destination retail experience and community icon. As the company approached its 50th anniversary, Unclaimed Baggage partnered with Storyland Studios to refresh its store’s interior design, develop new brand storytelling touchpoints, and create a mobile marketing vehicle for a nationwide tour.

Our work with Unclaimed Baggage celebrates the spirit of adventure that defines their business. It’s a place where curiosity meets discovery, where every suitcase holds a story. Over the years, some truly unbelievable items have surfaced, from Labyrinth’s iconic Hoggle puppet to an Egyptian burial mask, a Renaissance lute, and even a live rattlesnake.

Five Decades of Surprise, Delight, and Community Service—and Counting

Our team created new, lively in-store designs for Unclaimed Baggage, including exterior and interior concepts, wayfinding, placemaking, graphics, theming, and themed fabrication elements to immerse visitors in the store’s unique story. We created visuals rooted in an iconic mid-century style through graphics inspired by travel posters of the 40’s, 50’s & 60’s. We designed eye-catching, three-dimensional visual concepts to enrich the retail shopping experience, many of which have been implemented storewide.

As an homage to Unclaimed Baggage’s origins, we recreated two versions of Doyle Owens’ truck, lovingly dubbed “Hugo:” one mobile marketing vehicle with a fabricated luggage stack resembling Owens’, and a second photo op vehicle that lives at the Unclaimed Baggage retail store in Scottsboro. Throughout 2022, the Hugo marketing vehicle toured the U.S., helping to tell the store’s fascinating story. Hugo made a big splash on tour, including an appearance on Good Morning America.

Storyland’s fabrication department, which closed its doors in 2023, helped bring to life the in-store, “Found Treasures Museum”. Our talented team of artisans recreated Hoggle’s head, restoring the famed Jim Henson Creature Shop puppet to its intended appearance after the original materials degraded beyond repair. The Storyland team also created replicas of the Egyptian burial mask and a Horus hawk sarcophagus which were found in lost luggage and later sent to Sotheby’s.

A Fresh New Look, An In-Store Museum, and More Surprises Ahead

Since 2022, our team has implemented both interior and exterior design concepts for Unclaimed Baggage. The store’s interior has undergone multiple phases of transformation as our interior design concepts and photo-ops came to life. Its main entrance immerses visitors in the Unclaimed Baggage story right away, with lively, three-dimensional displays highlighting the journey of lost luggage to the store.

Visitors can enjoy video content to learn more about how Unclaimed Baggage works, how it gives back to the community, and get a glimpse of the surprises they’re about to discover. Throughout the store’s interior, graphics, theming, and three-dimensional displays keep guests fully immersed in both the Unclaimed Baggage journey and their own role in its evolving, unfolding story.

In April 2023, the “Found Treasures Museum” opened in the main store, giving guests an up-close view of the store’s many weird, wonderful, and historical finds. Hugo waits proudly outside the main entrance to greet shoppers from all over the world. Unclaimed Baggage and Storyland’s partnership is still going strong, and we can’t wait to share what we create together next.