Urban Ore

"informed person at front desk i was interested in donating, and they told me “drive that way, i’m not interested at looking at your stuff”. a second person came out and said the same thing, but informed me that they meant around the corner. Like just don’t be rude?"

"It makes no sense, like it’s propped up solely because of a rich steampunk benefactor that keeps it operating more as a museum than a place you’d find anything useful at a fair price given its condition. Unless peeling polyurethane furniture made out of pine is derelicte chic and worth a premium… Do you want to pay more for one unorganized rusty m5 bolt than you would for an entire box, brand new, from a place with a return policy?"

"This place is pretty useless. Pricing is weirdly firm for a salvage shop and the sticker price on most of this junk is sky high. When I tried to show the prices were higher than new on some junction boxes (and the items were no longer code for construction) I was told the price is what it is. If you go in here looking for anything in particular you will be sorely disappointed. If you spend a day in here searching, maybe you will find something half worth what they are charging for it. *Also, they claim so much junk for themselves and throw it on their wall not for sale, which is weird for a Salvage shop*"

"It feels like everything but the house is here - the longer stuff stays the more it will start to feel like a museum, but there are tons of useful and quirky items from picture frames to housewares and doors. The staff was helpful and seemed to have their way of communicating to help you not get too lost, but the condition of a lot of stuff was borderline and needed to be cleaned or organized - with so many staff it seemed like downtime could have been used to do some straightening! Nevertheless super cool and one of the most Berkeley places you can go in Berkeley"

"More of a junk yard that a salvage yard, but maybe that’s just semantics. There is a ton of junk here. The bulk of it is strange, misfit items that nobody really wants but are in good enough condition to keep on the shelves. Anything that is relatively nice, or at least salvageable, costs nearly as much as it is new. It seems that their building supplies and hardware is where they shine, but it is once again not exceptionally cheap and the quality is inconsistent."