I wonder if they vary in quality by location? I've stopped into ours at least a half-dozen times and never found anything interesting.
We _used_ to have a warehouse-sized second-chance store for home items and building materials. It was run by the city and all items were donated. Prices on most everything was very reasonable and all the funds went towards running the store and maintaining the city's other recycling programs. It was great. Every time I went in there, I came out with something awesome and only a slightly lighter wallet. (Generally tools or lumber.) Unfortunately, they shut it down at the start of COVID for unclear reasons and never reopened.
They definitely vary, but I’ve never been to one that was particularly great tbh (always cheap, never a huge selection). But I was always looking more for building materials than tools, and unfortunately we had two great architectural salvage warehouses that closed recently, so I might have look a bit further afield for my next home projects.
We _used_ to have a warehouse-sized second-chance store for home items and building materials. It was run by the city and all items were donated. Prices on most everything was very reasonable and all the funds went towards running the store and maintaining the city's other recycling programs. It was great. Every time I went in there, I came out with something awesome and only a slightly lighter wallet. (Generally tools or lumber.) Unfortunately, they shut it down at the start of COVID for unclear reasons and never reopened.