Urban Ore JunkYard in Berkeley (CA)

I witnessed an employee being rude, basically yelling at an elderly customer to get out of the way when they weren't in the way. The employee could've just walked around a shelf and gone on with their day, but they were visibly and audibly frustrated and took it out on a customer. The customer's friend said "it's okay" in a calming voice so it must've made them upset.

Fantastic place to check out if you are doing a home reno or other work. They didn't have what we neeeded the day we were there but I really wish we had visited early in our project. So many old doors!

Hit or miss with the stuff you find, but mostly extremely overpriced (at times priced higher than new) Would have rated higher but the staff here are always rude, unhappy, and every time I’ve stopped by they are ALWAYS complaining to each other about something related to their jobs. I used to really enjoy stopping by on my way home, but it seems to have changed.

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.

Urban Ore - It just isn’t what it used to be! I have recently remodeled a bathroom and changed out a water conservation toilet - low water flush - that should be recycled! Calling Urban Ore, I spoke to a representative who said that yes they would take the perfectly good, clean toilet after paying a $10.00 drop off fee. I exclaimed that... "What? - you are going to charge me $10.00 to drop off a perfectly good, clean & functional toilet and sell it for a substantial profit!?” The toilet cost $650.00 and was used for only three years! They exclaimed, “That’s how it works!” So much for saving the environment, saving resources and filling their pocket book! The City of Oakland will now haul off the toilet to be scrapped. What a waste and I will not be visiting Urban Ore again!

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

My friend and I just had an extremely rude interaction with a worker at this store. I really liked this store, and had a positive interaction with a lady who helped load my stuff on a cart and again with the man who checked my friend and I out. Unfortunately, the worker who helped us load our stuff into the car was blatantly rude to us. He kept making comments such as “I don’t understand why you can’t load this yourself, it’s so light.” And “did you seriously need help with just this?” Your employees need to be more sensitive to what they say to others. You never know what others are going through and if they may have an invisible disability. The woman who helped load our stuff onto the cart even told us to ask someone at the end to help load our car. The male worker was incredibly rude and affects my decision on if I’ll return to this store.

If you like old things, and goiing through old stuff, this may be the place for you! It is kinda like a scavenger hunt—you may or may not find what you are looking for. It might be a good idea to take a list  of what you are looking for—unless you don't mind getting lost for hours. I went in looking for wide-mouth quart canning jars. I found 2 wide mouth and 4 regualar quart canning jars for a dollar each—they can be difficult to find these days. In the back of my mind, I was looking for a way of dealing with mail and paperwork. I found something made out of metal with three levels for holding business papers for $8. Another thought I had was to see if I could find some LP vinyl records for my teenage grand daughter. Well, they had a large number of records, but I easily gave up on that idea because there was no order.  However, the price was right—only $1 each. So, for someone who has a lot of time and patience, that could be a goldmine. It makes me happy that there are still places that one can take stuff and keep it out of the landfill.

Amazing store with great staff. Most importantly, UOW(Urban Ore Workers) are in the process of Unionizing which will elevate this wonderful establishment to new heights. I fully support their efforts and the community at large will greatly benefit from them establishing an official union. Unfortunately the owners are doing everything they can to stop this which itself is a huge disgrace to Urban Ore and the Berkeley Community.

Urban Ore rocks! They take your old items and help them find new homes! Always fun walking indoors and outdoors and looking for treasures!

Great selection of everything! Decent prices too! I bought two books.

This used to be a place where you could find neat used stuff to repurpose for art or refurbish to use. Now the prices are almost at much as new. Used cracked and dented frame? $50?? Lol

Very disappointed with Urban Ore ,bringing my used building materials for 25+ years to this company, I know there’s been a few changes over the years ,but I called to make sure they will accept materials and when you get there, they change their mind and say they won’t either take it, or won’t give anything…I will now bring all my products ,And use materials to habitat, humanity in Oakland. At least you get a receipt to write off for your taxes !

Dropping off: Staff barked “you got all day” at me because I was checking to make sure I wasn’t going to bump anything on my way out. I called him out on his sharp comment and he turned his back to me and walked away. Not very friendly.

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?

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?

There are some useful items available for a very low price. Also, this is a very good place to donate.

You can find everything here. Great quality, some items still new. Reasonable prices!

Lots of good deals to be found. Decently organized and a good range of items. Lots of vintage pastel toilets tubs and sinks!

This place has really gone downhill in the 10 years I've been going there occasionally. Everything is so overpriced. For instance, there are some antique light posts outdoors. I asked a year ago and they wanted $2500 each. They need a lot of repairs, to be totally restored. It seemed like way too much. A year later, they are still sitting there rusting (in worse condition than before). Almost nothing outdoors is even priced. You have to ask and then you get the sense they are making up the pricing as they go. Inside, the smell of mold is so bad, it feels unhealthy to be there. That's okay, not much point in going back.

I love this place so much, not just for shopping and browsing and imagining what life would be like if i had those matching pedicure chairs in my home, but also I love donating items here, too! I help my clients declutter and purge excess from their lives and I love donating the stuff for them in ways we can all feel good about. And this is a really great and cool option for keeping it stuff outta corporate horribleness (looking at you, GW). The staff are great and sweet and helpful and one definitely gets a sense of “Berkeley Community” in this place. Special shout-out to Timmy at the Main Register, who made me feel like part of that community, remembering me the second time i came in and making me feel welcome! This place is a jewel and so are the staff!

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*

Love this place full of treasures. Found some replacement door handles that matched my 1930 house for $20 instead of rejuvenation for $500.

I love urban ore, but they need to be more careful when moving things. I purchased a table with only minor issues on the top and when they helped me carry it out to my car, the person helping carelessly put the table top down on a rough cart, creating multiple deep scratches that were about 5” across the grain. My car was only a few feet away so it didn’t even need to be put on the cart. I wish I didn’t ask for their help at all because it ruined the value of the item and I’m not sure if I would have bought it if it had that damage. The employees need to be trained on being more careful. I notice a lot of their furniture is also damaged from moving and they ask extremely high prices on it, as if it were new.

Lots of stuff - from architectural salvage to thrift store type items. Records, cassettes, VHS, stereos, windows, doors, knobs, locks, furniture, clothes, tools, hardware, lighting, art, rugs, etc etc etc. It’s a bit of a mess, but if you’re up for the hunt, recommend. Ample free parking in lot and street.

Wow talk about huge selection of used random home everything your heart could ever want... This place was the size of a at least 2 or more acres with a huge factory feel inside and an outside selection of door, windows toilets and every other DIY home renovation store but bigger than I've EVER seen. Reminded me of habitat for humanity but with more selection of treasures. I promise u WILL find treasures!! Give yourself plenty of time to browse and u will Love It.

Urban ore describes this place perfectly. Salvage yard with everything for your home, business, art, burning man and etc.