Ours used to be great, but ever since they built a shiny new facility their prices equal or exceed buying new on a lot of items. Now we don't shop there at all.

There's one near where my in laws live, and they go there quite often. My father in law found a brand new drill retailing at regular stores for a lot more and he got it for $30 or so.

I've been disappointed by their prices which can be stunningly high. They will have the occasional gem, but for most project needs I've turned to craigslist and new discount, especially with the building slump.

I used to volunteer at one for about a year. Your experience at a ReStore location will really vary by location. Pricing is done on an estimation basis. At the location I volunteered at, they would allow you to haggle if you felt the price was too high. As long as they felt your price was reasonable, they accepted it. The items at locations really do change every day as they come in, so it really is about being at the right location at the right time.

You can also donate your used goods to ReStore with a tax deductible.

A friend of mine got some beautiful, as new, cabinets from the store in Wilmington, NC, for pretty cheap. Definitely worth checking out.

Shopping at the ReStores takes patience and a lot of knowledge of the materials you are looking for. Remember nothing comes with a warranty and it is non-returnable.
To me that means everything should be at least 50% or less of retail. That usually rules out about half the items in the store.

There's a place called Urban Ore in Berkeley, CA that sells reclaimed building materials as well. fun place. lots of deals to be had.

Every now and then, you score a good deal. But mostly, it's what you expect from donations: Damaged, old junk.
I did get a lot of nice stuff there, but it's hit and miss. Luck.

Also, the Habitat stores in nicer areas will naturally have nicer stuff. The stores here in Lansing Michigan, mainly stuff that's fit for the dumpster.

I found some good stuff at one of those places a few years ago. I picked up some light bulbs, light fixtures, and door knobs for pretty cheap.

what an awesome tip - i didn't even know these existed. thx consumerist - i'll have to go check it out!

I bought a dishwasher for $40 about three years ago. It has been running great ever since. Happy Customer!

There's one by me that I haven't looked at. Considering I need a drill, I might check it out.

Ooh there's one here. I'll have to go and look. I don't mind used or even a little scratch-and-dent if something is structurally sound.

Thanks Consumerist! :)

The one by my house has bathtubs stacked as high as they can go. It's a real step back in time...

habitat restore prices depend on the region your in. in our area there are lots of good deals at the restore, because theres lots of left overs from the habitat homes that are built, contractors, and theres even a "thrift shop" portion of the store.

its a resale store, you cant expect perfect deals and brand new items at the same time... nor can you expect all stores to be the same through out.

i purchased two old windows for 50 cent each. refurbished them, and now have two sets of 6 frames to display my photos.

If you are looking for a fun community service project, check into their Deconstruction crews. You basically get to tear a house to shreds, great stress relief.

The one in Columbus (North Linden) is full of crap, but the prices are very low, and there are gems to be found for the patient. They had full flats of flowers for only $2 this summer.

I've shopped at ours, and donated. It's a great service to support.

Ours is hit or miss on prices. Tile is the same price as the store but your not likely to find a full lot unless you want white 6x6 tile. They have good deals on lights and sometimes other odd items. I have seen full sets of kitchen cabinets go for $1000 and these were high end from obviously someone's huge kitchen. With a bit of tweaking and maybe some new hardware they could look great and not dated. They are dirt cheap on paint too. $5 for a gallon of $75 paint from Sherwin Williams!

I agree with some other commenters that, depending on the item, the pricing can seem high. But I still recommend checking out their inventory from time to time. You can come across the darndest things.

I think this might be the best way to get the cheap tile I need for my bathroom and potentially my kitchen countertop and backsplash.

@JulesNoctambule: Ooh, ooh, pick me. I run one of the nation's more successful ReStores. Notice that I didn't say largest. A lot of ReStores fall into one of two traps. One is accepting junk for donations, putting a ridiculous price on it and never marking it down. See the commenter below who mentioned old tubs stacked to the ceiling. Others buy an enormous store, but can't fill it with used/donated materials, so they start buying container loads of new cabinets and flooring from Chinese manufacturers. Of course they don't have the economies of scale that Lowes or Home Depot has, so you inevitably end up paying higher prices or having an inferior product.

If you have never been to a ReStore before, the biggest thing to remember is this isn't your typical chain store. Habitat International is only now starting to think about implementing quality assurance standards or enforce any sort of uniformity across the brand. Some stores say all sales are final, mine has 30-day warranty on most items. Some negotiate on prices, some will not. We mark down items 10% a week, others its 10% a month. Some get a few donations a day, our pickup service can do 30 donations each day.

As for the items themselves, yes, you can save tens of thousands of dollars , but you have to be picky and persistent. Our deconstruction program hand salvages everything from kitchens to complete structures to save the materials. Stainless steel appliances under 3 years old, I'll get a dozen or so a year. Just recently we had a solid natural cherry custom cabinet set, shaker-style panels, granite countertops, the whole nine yards, a kitchen that had more square feet than my entire house, all in mint conidtion. The appraiser's value was $40,000 (and was probably twice that new). Our price was $5k and I had people storming out saying our prices were too high. That set sold in a week. I'll see at least 8 sets of similar quality a year, and hundreds of others ranging from vintage metal cabinets at $5/piece all the way up. My record kitchen set sold for ten grand. On average, you can get a top notch kitchen, complete with appliances and countertop for what you'd pay for countertops alone buying new.

You have to be persistent, and a little lucky. Don't go there expecting to find what you are looking for every time, but do go with measurements for everything in your house. You may not have been looking 1000 square feet of salvaged antique oak flooring, but if I've just marked it down to $250 it won't be here by the time you get back from rushing home to measure. Also, it really helps to know what you are doing. Or at least come with someone who does. Buy a ceiling fan from me and I'll make sure you know how to wire it and have an appropriately rated junction box in your ceiling. Not all of my volunteers can do that, and I do occasionally take a vacation.

First and foremost, remember, the mission of most ReStores is to keep things out of landfills (even if maybe that was the best place for it) and raise money to build Habitat for humanity homes in your city. Every penny stays in your community. Habitat for Humanity just dedicated its 300,000 house. Not bad for a charity that is only 30 years old. We're building about 150 safe, decent and affordable houses every day, which is far more impressive than that 20 foot tall stack of crappy tubs any day! Stop in, say hi, and volunteer!

thanks for the reminder. i only recently found out about these and a visit to my local one keeps getting left off my weekend errand list accidentally. but a recent house flood has made me realize i need to look into some cabinets or shelving for the garage - where, during reconstruction, we had to put everything that was in the house.

the store in minneapolis is fantastic, and they haggle to a certain degree. we love that place. also: the axman.

I love ReStore. The chandelier in our dining room was brand new, in box, and I paid $35 for it. When I went home and Googled around for a retail price for it, the best I could estimate was about $150.

I think our local ReStore gets a lot of donations from the nearby outlets and Targets. I see a lot of stuff that looks like it went to the lowest level of clearance, then was donated for the tax write-off.

Not a good place for /all/ your stuff, but there's lots and lots of little odds and ends that are dirt cheap. Nails, screws, plumbing pieces, and chemicals come to mind.

If you have a Sears Appliance Outlet nearby, it's an awesome place to get stuff. When I gutted my kitchen last year, everything came from there, appliance-wise. For example, $2500 convection wall oven for $1300.

@lockdog: My father-in-law volunteers with Habitat, thanks.

The ReStore near me is outrageously priced, and oddly almost packed with people who think they're getting a good deal.

Hey, there is one near me! Sweet. Looking at their flickr page, it seems they have a cabinet that would be perfect for my garage for $50.