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Category: Arts & Crafts
Neighborhoods: Temescal, North OaklandMon-Sun. 11:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
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Management of the store responded after my letter and agreed with me , that even thou they dont give refunds, but not if a customer is still in the store and has changed his mind after testing it or just simply changed his mind about buying item.
Yes, they do refund if customer is still in the store.
Kind of like IKEA policy in AS IS ITEMS , accept in IKEA refund is valid until end of the day of purchase.
I was a customer on Sunday at about 2pm , while i brought stuff to the register and asked if I can… Read more »
I love this store. I love to buy crappy knick-knacks and make half-baked "art" or send random postcards and stickers to far-flung friends from high school and college. I'm also on a strict 105% of poverty level budget, so this place lets me indulge my impulses for CHEAP. And I mean cheap.
The first day I went, here's what I got, and it cost $10.26: 3 picture frames (two large, one small), 4 stickers (including one that said THREE STOOGES '92 with Bush, Perot and Clinton on it -- hilarious), 4 weird postcards, enough scrap fabric to make bathroom curtains (about 2 yards I think?), a urine vial I bought for some reason, a huge piece of matte board, a Chinese/English wall calendar, 2 VHS boxes (these are awesome to mail things in), and a hardbound coffee table book about photography.
They also sell egg cartons and all manner of clean cardboard. Some of the art and Berkeley prints they had were pretty cool. I wish I had a place for them. They also have neat Upper Playground art books for like $5.
If you have more time than money, this is a really cool place to look around and get ideas, teacher, artist, or junk-lover.
Always fun to search the bins and displays. Many treasures have made their way into my artwork. It's a little more boutique-y since their move to Telegraph, but the displays are inspiring.
My quibble is with the staff, in particular, the younger man who works there a lot. Can't figure out why he's snooty and unfriendly, even when I'm donating. As a professional artist and former art teacher, I have a good sense of what might be wanted by both teachers and other artists. He needs to learn how to say "thank you" once in a while, even if he has to mumble it. Other staff members can be great.
If the staff was friendlier, the store would get 4 stars from me.
Every time I go here, I vow it is the last time. It always seems like a good idea to stop in, but I never find what I'm looking for if I'm on a mission, and am overwhelmed by crap if I'm looking for nothing in particular. Also, the sales staff is RUDE. The Yard Sale on San Pablo has just as much (if not more) junk/inventory, but none of the attitude.
As advertised, this is the place to go if you are creative and on a budget; they have just about anything you might want to reuse for art projects, slightly quirky home decorating, or other crafty needs. It's probably a better idea to come with an open mind and check out what they happen to have on any given day than to come looking for something specific, though they do seem to keep things well organized at the new location in Temescal.
A few of my best finds here include a couple of beautiful wooden picture frames, some colorful glass-beaded bracelets, and a large stack of CDs (Some of the ones I picked out were familiar, but most just looked intriguing and seemed worth taking a chance on, for the price. I found a couple of good ones that day, too!). They always have a bin full of various baskets, a small assortment of furniture, some dishes and kithcheny knick-knacks, a bunch of fabric, old patterns, paper and posterboard, cards, pens and markers, stickers, ribbons, buttons, and a million little things you never knew you needed.
As we've been cleaning out my folks' house to get it ready to sell, we've also brought down a couple of loads down here to donate, and the people taking donations around the back have always been friendly and helpful. They'll pick over your stuff a little bit, and sometimes reject things based on what they have in stock at the moment, but they're quick and very nice about it, and will give you a signed tax receipt to fill out later at your leisure.
Super cheap. Assembly required.
I used to think I was pretty creative until I came here. I just don't know what to do with a ball of yarn, a bucket of golf balls and a stack of credit card strays. I know they can become something wonderful in the right hands, but just not mine.
This whole "knowing your limitations" thing frustrates me.
Score! I fucking LOVE the Depot.
It's your destination for DIY interior decorating, arts & crafts, bulk supplies and great for classroom crafts. Some of the stuff I've come across:
- awesome "vintage" ramos pinto port wine framed print -- $3!
- O.P.I. high quality nail polish at 50 cents a pop!
- canvases, frames, cell phone accessories, scrapbooks goodies, fabric, letters, banners, boxes even furniture.
And I just love how you come up to the cashier toss your shit on the counter, and the gal says "hmm, okay, how about... 3 bucks?" YES! The selection changes often, so a pop in every now and then will do the creative body good. $10 minimum on Debit and Credit cards.
This place had exactly what I needed the service was friendly and quick. I love yelp for giving a forum to celebrate companies such as this.
How have I lived in Oakland for 5 years and never gone here?
This place is the bomb. It's perfect for finding trinkets for decorating your apartment. I found a nice canvas to hang in my living room here for $4. That's right, $4.
See you next Saturday, East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse.
Dear Santa,
I know it's only March, but I've decided to only give gifts that are a) liquor or b) that I've made myself. So I need supplies for the rest of the year, and there's where you come in. Pretty please with a cherry on top do an early drop off with this stuff:
- 2 mannequin arms in different colors
- a poster of the water cycle
- 3 bolts of colorful fabric
- 8 wooden picture frames of various sizes
- 70 toilet and paper towel rolls
- shredded dollar bills
- 50 sheets of microfilm
- 4 balls of wool yarn
- and a Blythe doll with burned hair
I hope this doesn't muck up your schedule too badly. Luckily, I know of a place where you can make it a one stop shop...
Thanks for helping me save the planet, Santa. It'll be worth it, I promise. And please give Rudolph an Inuit kiss and a sugar cube for me.
xoxo,
Ligaya T.
I see myself as a CREATIVE soul... and the East Bay Depot is an easy place to call my workshop! I first encountered them for months during my drive home from work... I always wondered if they provided studio space so I yelped them one day and after reading all of the reviews I was just floored!
I finally stepped foot into this store about 3 and a half weeks ago... I was instantaneously on cloud 9 floating in CREATIVITY-HEAVEN! Ideas of things I could make just started to pour through... The concept of this store is SPECIAL and UNIQUE... and I wish there were more outlets like the EBDCR!
I can't wait to take Cousin Ashlee here, I know she is going to LOVE IT!
Ooooh and to ice the cake, I now have a place to donate all of my left over beads and art supplies =)
This place is awesome. I consider myself the artsy crafty type that doesn't have much time to be artsy and craftsy, so I come here. Someone else was already pursuing a creative idea and for some reason, it ended up here. That's where I step in! I love how this place is filled with hidden treasures. I got this awesome collage canvas painting that fits perfectly in my room and is total a conversation piece- and it was only $2.50!
On another trip, I snagged these awesome over-sized sunflowers made from recycled paper. This place also seems ideal for a kid's science project or something... seems like they've got one of everything!
If you're a person who doesn't mind wandering around a store and searching for hidden treasures in what seems like a catastrophic mess, this place is for you!
Eesh's helpful hint: Get there right when they open, there's always some extra awesome item that they sit outside which gets gotten very early in the day. I always just miss an amazing lamp or table or something. They open at 11, I think!
Love to HATE it.
sigh. ok, well I kinda love digging through piles of crap to find my crafty golden egg as much as the next hunter gatherer.
shopping here always makes me feel dirty though, and not in the physical seance, but more a proverbial, bad touch sort of way.
their merchandising has improved in the last month, which is nice.
there prices are hit or fucking miss.
oh, and did you know, that its unlawful and a brake in contract for retailers to charge a credit card minimum? well it is. and they do, $10.00 dollars if memory serves.
god that pisses me off.
Yay for East Bay Depot!
We found exactly what we were looking for:
Eyeglass case-35 cents
Plastic prize balls-you know the kind you see in those little vending machines.
A wooden (not fiberboard) narrow bookshelf (for my DVD's)---it fit perfectly in the dining room/next to the computer. $12
Model train DVD
TOTAL for everything was $15! Woohoo!
And I dropped off bags of DVD cases.
They had hundreds of rubber stamps in bins----I didn't buy any but I did tell my teacher friends about them.
I am super impressed how neat and well organized this place is.
No small feat with all the mountains of stuff they get.
Friendly and helpful staff too!
They now have a loading dock behind the store so it is easy to drop off stuff.
Their current location seems slightly smaller than the original but it is clean, sunny and super… Read more »
I just recently enlisted as a yelpster.
It's been a while since my last visit to Creative Reuse and I'm not going to spend a lot of time on the review, but I do want to acknowledge them with maxi stars.. They are out of this world. In the Heavens.
Everyone talks of going green. They are green at it's truest and always have been.
You can save a lot of mula here and at the same time help the environment. Just browse, but be sure to take some green cause Im
sure you'll see plentty you like.
Awesome.
I had no idea this existed until my friend brought me here the other day. What a fantastic concept, and what a great mess of stuff to look through. When I walked in I saw this amazing, ridiculous ceramic that was meant for me. It was sitting on the counter, exactly in front of me--like it had been placed there just for me to find. A white adult unicorn almost touching noses with a baby unicorn, both streaked with the faintest blue, yellow and pink air brushed stripes. If you know me at all, you can understand how fantastic a discovery this was. It cost $4.00. Spectacular!
I also paged through the random record collection, which is the same stuff you find at any second-hand store--lots of Olivia Newton John, Barbara Streisand, Broadway shows and classical compilations. But, again like most second-hand stores, I still found those random gems: Corey Hart, DeBarge, a Walk Like an Egyptian single. Unlike most thrift stores nowadays, the records were dirt cheap so even though I'm wicked poor I could justify buying them.
I wish I'd had both more time and money to really comb this place over, and maybe an art project or two to keep in mind while I searched. If you scrap book, paint, sculpt, or sew, this place has a bajillion little boxes of what's-its to spark the creative process. And the best part is that everyone who works there understands the value of what they're selling--they know this is recycled nonsense and that it should be priced as such, and they'll even let you bargain them down if you think the thing they're selling is priced too high. This is the Bay Area that I love.
Here's where I found:
Antique red glass beads $2
5 silver earrings $4
silk scarf 75 cents
10 cool greeting cards (pay by the inch)
baby doll limbs (priceless)
1. I always get the sense that they think I'm going to steal something. Like empty film cannisters. Really?
2. They're onto my secret weaknesses for the longest, boring-est classical records and Disney cartoon VHS tapes that I probably already have at my parents' house.
3. The employees need to stop parking their bikes out front next to the for sale stuff, because I've gotten unnecessarily excited more than once.
4. I'm probably just bitter because my crafts projects get abandoned as fast as newborns in New Jersey on prom night.
I love this place even more now that they're selling rubber stamps by the pound! I just went this weekend and they have Hero Arts rubber stamps and sets for $8 per pound. Surprisingly a pound of wooden blocked rubber stamps turns out to be a lot! I'm going back next weekend to see if they get some new supply.
Their new store is surprisingly well organized. I spent an hour wandering in there checking out all the bins. They have some cool silk fabric swatches now too, perfect for small crafts. I'm trying to think of what I can buy chipboard pieces to create... oh the possibilities!
This place is cool, they have so much random crafty stuff but you have to dig around. They have a… Read more »
This is the Salvation Army for crafters! You can find everything here - from tools to fabric and it's all super cheap. They even have quite a lot of random furniture too. I recently bought two old maps, a GIANT bag of wine corks (probably about 100 of them) and a coffee bean bag (you know, the kind that looks like a big potato sack) for only $4. Let your imagination run wild.
However, I do have one gripe. Some of the sales people are a little cranky - like you're interrupting them or something. I did have one guy be super helpful when I was looking for something in particular. But the rest of them could be a bit more chipper.
They still get 5 stars from me cuz when I come here my mood lifts and ain't no cranky sales person gonna bring it down!
Awesomeness! This place has rocked my universe for years. The new location is a lot more organized than the old one, and there's so much goodness to be had.
My best Depot find of all time: old glass traffic signal covers (from when they replaced everything with LED lights) that doubled as great coffee table centerpieces or shallow bowls.
Go here if you're a teacher, crafter, or just like randomness.
Where'd the gorilla in the window go? I couldn't remember the name of this place so I spent a half hour on google street view looking for this elusive gorilla the old location had in the window, only to find out later it had moved to Oakland. I made the trek thinking I'd find something, or at least get inspired for a project I was working on. That sure didn't happen, the new location is more picked through than a Thrift town clearance sale. The old location had some truly unique and weird finds. What can I create with 3000 egg cartons, bottle caps, and 20 years of National Geographic? I mean I can get my creative on, but give me something to work with. I understand the nature of places like this is hit or miss, so I may come back if I'm in the area.
No gorilla, no great finds, but I'm still happy this place exists. 3 1/2
I wanted to stock up on loot for activities to do with kids at work and the 'Depot' was perfect. This place is such a gem, I will absolutely come back soon!!
Not quite what I expected but that's not a bad thing!
I enjoyed roaming around trying to figure out what the place was about. The staff was pretty awesome and super friendly. There was even a guy playing guitar...very random...and he was GOOD!
If you're looking for craft items in bulk this is a true gem. Loads of scrap fabric, vintage buttons, bottle caps, and various junk (treasures). The costume jewelry was on point! I found an awesome jade beaded necklace that I love.
Take a stroll through and you're sure to find something. The rubber stamp collection was pretty tight!
Another place for your creative side to run wild and find treasures for cheap!
Love, Love, Love this place! One of my passions is taking old stuff and giving them a new life... if you're like me... then you HAVE to try this place.
1. free parking
2. great prices! I have never spent more then $10
- fabric for $2 a yard
- purses for $2-$3
- vintage buttons (about 30) for $1
3. awesome service - everytime I go there, the people working the registers are really friendly
this store has the wonderful randomness that you can't find anywhere else! where else can you buy empty milk cartons, corks, stamps, fabric samples, etc. ... all under one roof? i love it!
it's the type of store that creates creativity in creative people!
Make things from other things? So many treasures to be found here!
I actually hesitated to review this cuz I don't want it to get overpriced like Urban Ore, but there's lots of Yelps already, so I'll give em my props too.
Great resource for underfunded teachers & kid-oriented creativity projects. Dangerous place for those with stuff-itis tendencies. Though maybe it could help persuade someone to part with their own excess stuff if they knew it would be creatively reused instead of going into a landfill!
terrible service.
wonderful scavenging.
i found dental impressions and a tokyo bay clock for $5.
over all satisfactory.
I use to go to the depot at it's San Pablo location, and today was my first time wandering into the new location. It's so much bigger! And cleaner! I love their informal technique of pricing your items. You're guaranteed a deal. I got a bag of leather covered buttons for $1.50! Very happy.
My best find: NEW balls of wool and cotton yarn. I got about 20 balls of yarn and it cost me $4!!
P.S. Bring some hand sanitizer or wash your hands afterwards. You'll leave feeling a little grimy if you've done enough digging around.
Have you ever put a bunch of "beautful junk" in front of 2nd graders and challenged them only to "make something out of it"? Can you believe the sh*t they come up with?
If you have, you get why this place rocks.
And I guess it's for adult 2nd graders, too.
Get on your culling gloves, folks, this place is going to take more than ten minutes of your time.
PS, I know you're snickering about "beautiful junk," you sicko. They're second graders, I can't be thinking like that!
Creepy.
They've got tons of crap, TONS of it! As a preschool teacher I appreciate that. But yuk, sifting through all that crap is just not worth it. Needless to say they have some cheap stuff, they have some useful stuff, but every time I leave I feel the need to take a shower and swear to myself that I'll never go back.
Plus the few times I've been in the employees have either been totally spaced out or quite rude to some customers.
Case in point we found an video card for the computer there and thought we'd see if it worked. My husband gently placed it on the counter and the lady picked it up and said "what's this?" and slammed it back down. He told her it looked like it might work, but you have to be gentle with it. She picked it up again and started waving it around talking about how she knows nothing about computers yada yada yada and then slammed it down again. We awkwardly looked at each other as if she was insane, which she sort of came off as, and left.
I gave it 5 stars only because i'm obsessed about stamps.
They have tons and tons of rubber stamps as of 12.01.08.Hero Arts stamps for cheap...................love that.
This is the type of place that is ideal if you have a lot of time to spare, have a really "unique" project you are working on or need to find that ONE THING that you are pretty sure no one else will have....OR if you are a teacher. :) You should hit it up at least once, just for the experience, bring a companion, it is definitely no fun alone.
Okay. Who's the mofo who bought all the cowbells? Hundreds of cruddy cheap cowbells have been sitting around in a bin all year long with no takers. Then I decided that I want to get it all for the company's holiday mandatory merrymaking that includes the usual white elephant yankee swap crap, and how delightfully idiotic it would be for someone to open it up and see a ton of cowbells. So I hauled ass over to the depot after work to get there before they close in half an hour. I said to myself, if I make it in this traffic, then I'm meant to get those cowbells.
I made it in record time. Only to find no cowbells. All gone. Sold out. No more. : (
Well guess what. I got a fever. And the only prescription...is more cowbell.
This place is GREAT! Where else can you unload your stack of old linen swatches and turn around and buy closeout stamps for .50? Awesome! I used to go to the old location on San Pablo, but the new place is much better. I think the inventory is better-controlled. (Not sure if that means a more selective process about donations, or whether someone culls the inventory to pull out the crap, but either way, it's definitely working.)
The concept here, as I understand it, is that you bring in your stuff that has potential for being someone's future art project. And as an artist, you can buy things like, say, a giant spool of purple string. Or some miscellaneous stationery, wrapping paper, vases, or as in today's visit, 200 shark pens. Yes, it has that zany flea market appeal. But in it's defense, it has that zany flea market feel.
And it's within walking distance of Lanespitters, so you can grab a pizza and a beer after your afternoon of rummaging.
I'm putting the kids to work this year. We're going to solve the Earth's global warming crisis with 10 billion empty cd cases, several ka-jillion mis-shapen notebook covers, and 50 million cracked frisbees.
The Gore-meister ok'd it...but I'm not sure where he stands on the child labor thing.
I don't know why more ppl don't know about this place. I take every one here. Teachers, kids, my mom. And they all love it. Great prices and there is always some where there to help me. Also I would pick East Bay Depot over SCRAP in San Francisco any day.
East Bay is bright, and feels more welcoming and has better prices.
For a thrift store {which it IS, people} the depot is a:
~Good place to kill time
~Not a good place to get a deal on something you need
~Good place for starving art students
~Notsomuch a good place for starving art students to buy supplies {old paint same cost as new, what?}
~Good place to run about like a toddler on crack
~Not a good place to turn kids on crack lose
Ever~evolving, It was better back in the day. Every time I go since they moved it's like a perpetual benefit auction that only the staff are in on... Sure, it's been good to me, but I'm sickened at the money~ milking that I used to see at Urban Ore, you know, before I just stopped going altogether. It seems weird that everyone thinks that 'stuff that would otherwise end up in the trash' taking a short tour through this place is better than the trash~picking I watched Everyone do back in the bulky pick~up days. Yes, they throw out a lot of donated stuff, and nobody gets a dib on that.
I'll take the wind~up plastic dancing robot for .25 cents... but I think I'll leave the faux 'vintage' vibe behind for the next sucker who can't tell the difference :'(
Where has the creativity gone? This place makes me feel kinda used.
If you like junk, or collect junk, or create cool stuff out of junk...then this is the place for you. I love junk. I collect junk. I wish I created more cool stuff out of junk.
Does anyone know of a place like this in LA?
I ALWAYS find several great things to buy, whether it's cute stationary, office supplies, fabric & notions, etc. And it's always at a great deal. How many thrift or reuse stores can one say that of?
And the people who work there are kind & helpful, even that irreverent funny guy with the longish hair.
I love the Depot but I loved it even more before they moved. They have shifted too far toward thrift store and have less for artists and teachers who want to buy stuff to work with their students with. The also are way more picky about what they accept.
But still where can you buy 3 dozen yellow crayons or strips of metal measuring tape or little tiny glass bottles?
Sale on Sale!
Neighborhood: Temescal
Pre holiday sale
Neighborhood: UC Campus Area
Neighborhood: East Oakland
Category: Fabric Stores
Neighborhood: Downtown Oakland
Category: Children's Clothing
Neighborhood: North Oakland
Category: Fabric Stores
Neighborhood: North Oakland
Category: Art Supplies
Berkeley, CA
Category: Fabric Stores
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