10,000 lbs. of clothes sold by the bag at Surrey warehouse April 25<\/p>\n
Published 12:40 pm Thursday, April 16, 2026<\/p>\n
Call it a semi-controlled clothing free-for-all.<\/p>\n
Cherry Pick Vintage is holding another Rag Yard Market on Saturday, April 25 at the Surrey warehouse shared with Cycle Wipers, two family-operated businesses that deal with clothing in different ways.<\/p>\n
For $10 timed entry, people can sift through 10,000 pounds of clothing then stuff it in bags for purchase by the pound.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast time we had around 400 people come through and pick \u2014 not all at once, because we have four different time slots, about 100 people per time slot,\u201d said Cherry Pick\u2019s Brooklyn O\u2019Neill, business co-founder and director.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a cool, alternative way to thrift, to shop,\u201d she added. \u201cIt\u2019s like a hunt where you have no idea what will be here. It\u2019s stuff that we deem really great clothing. We do that groundwork, we sort through the raw material and put it out. When (shoppers) are done, they put their bags on one of our massive scales and pay $7 per pound.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bridgeview-area clothing recycling facility (11559 132A St.) is where huge, 1,000-pound bales of clothing are sorted for cutting into rags for industrial uses, or kept for sale at three Cherry Pick stores in Langley, Victoria and Vancouver.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a whole world of recycling in here,\u201d said O\u2019Neill, business partner and fianc\u00e9 of Andrew Ditschun, who runs the long-established Cycle Wipers with parents.<\/p>\n
The pair launched Cherry Pick Vintage four years ago as a way to sell clothing treasures discovered in those huge bales.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe found that there was still so much stuff that didn\u2019t need to get cut up yet, clothing that could continue onwards into another lifecycle before it essentially ends up getting wiped with paint and becomes garbage, essentially,\u201d O\u2019Neill explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started it was more on the T-shirt, sweatshirt side of things, just because that\u2019s what Cycle Wipers uses primarily. Since then Cherry Pick, which is the vintage side of the business now, has grown exponentially.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their new \u201cvintage and pre-loved\u201d clothing store in Victoria is called Pounds, where everything is priced by weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe added that fourth store to our fleet, a totally new concept based on pricing clothing by the pound, which is common in Europe and Asia but we haven\u2019t seen much of that in Canada or North America, really,\u201d O\u2019Neill added.<\/p>\n
Close to 250,000 pounds of clothing is stored at the Bridgeview warehouse at any given time, O\u2019Neill said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe majority of stuff comes from thrift stores across North America, where they either don\u2019t have the capacity to process and put onto their floors, because thrift stores get so much stuff and so many donations that they cannot possibly process all of it. That overwhelming amount then gets sold to businesses like us.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was the scene at the last Rag Yard Market held at a Surrey warehouse, where another sale happens April 25. <\/p>\n
10,000 lbs. of clothing sold by the bag for $7 a pound.<\/p>\n
Check it out in my story: https:\/\/t.co\/bkiajRFbvF<\/a> via @SurreyNowLeader<\/a> @BlackPressMedia<\/a> #SurreyBC<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/kU3tavZzIp<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) April 16, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n The warehouse will be cleaned up and buzzing with people during the next Rag Yard Market on April 25, the third held inside the sorting facility.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a mixed bag of people who comes, some teenagers who are looking for stuff, people who know and love used clothing, vintage stuff, store owners. We also get older people who are like, \u2018I\u2019ve always loved thrifting for 50 years!\u2019 and that\u2019s why it excites them.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n One time, warehouse staff discovered pilot-worn bomber jacket and pants from the Second World War in one of the clothing bales.<\/p>\n \u201cWe find some really cool band T-shirts from the \u201880s or older, some cool stuff that comes in, from \u201950s and \u201960s, too,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing an increase in popularity in true vintage as well, huge value in that. Those are cool finds because they\u2019re extra-rare, that older stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Visit shopcherry.ca<\/a> for tickets and more details about the Rag Yard Market.<\/p>\n