Chicago Creative Reuse Exchange is a nonprofit thrift store with a purpose. They collect and sell things (very disparate and unpredictable things) that would otherwise be garbage to be reused, mostly for artistic projects. They also have a popup workshop called "Imagination Station" where people teach participants how to make specific things (i.e. bags, jewelry, kaleidoscopes) out of what some might consider old junk.
Chicago's thrift store that turns garbage into art
Inspire The People