Q: To whom does money found in a store belong? What about other items left in a store?

A: Money found behind the checkout counter belongs to the storeowner. Since customers do not go there, any money found there must have been dropped by the owner or the cashier (C.M. 260:5).

Money that is found in the store itself, or even on the checkout counter, is not presumed to be the owner’s. The storeowner also does not acquire the money through chatzer (being left in his yard), since this money is likely to be picked up by someone else before the storeowner finds it. Therefore, if the money has no siman or if the customers are mostly non-Jews, the finder can keep it (Shach 260:17-18).

As to items left in the store by customers: if most of the customers are Jewish and the items have a siman, there is an obligation of hashavas aveidah, to publicize and return.

It is advisable that the storeowner post a prominent sign that management is not responsible for items left in the store beyond a certain time. Afterward, he can keep or give them away as he wishes (Pischei Choshen, Aveidah 3:[35]; Hashavas Aveidah K’halachah 8:6,8).