Of the 3 ReStores in Houston, I go to the southern one on 610 most often. It has a pretty good selection of doors, tile, paint, pavers, cabinets and flooring. They almost always have decent kitchen appliances and sometimes they have really high end ovens and ranges. (Bosch, JennAire, Thermador, Dacor) The have been reorganizing the store and it is cleaner, and better looking now.
The one off of 59 has limited hours, and is small and junky. They were working on cleaning up, and organizing last time I was there. They do have a good electrical section, and lots of marble and granite.
The one north of Houston, off Jones Rd and 290 is VERY well run. It looks the most like a traditional store. They have tons of cabinets, brick, conduit, doors, bathroom stuff, hardware. They have a small section of what I'd call "thrift store" items as well.
In all the stores, stock changes constantly, but it does seem that each store has some donors that they get regularly.
All of the stores are operated (at least in part) by volunteers and they rely on contributions for stock, so keep that in mind.
I always consider it worth the 15 mins to walk thru if I'm in the neighborhood anyway.
I almost never see tools in any of the stores. (I have seen the occasional overpriced machine, and the one on 610 got a huge load of Harbor Freight!! returns. Why you would buy returns from HF, I don't know, but people did.) I bought 4 rusty Proto wrenches for $4 once, but I consider that an extreme aberration!)
At least in Houston, there are bargains to be had and it helps people.
zuk
