Have you looked in the Yellow Pages? That's what I did decades
ago when I needed a local store. Picked one out, pretty much
at random, and it turned out to be pretty good. On later trips,
I came to realize it was a part of a cluster of such stores, something
I'd have missed if I'd picked some other store at random.
Ask in the local newsgroup, it must be something like van.general.
Find a local amateur radio club, and ask there. The Radio Amateurs
of Canada keep a list of local clubs at their website,
http://www.rac.ca and there is also a list of upcoming amateur radio
club fleamarkets, which you might find of interest (since at least
some of the items that show up for sale can be of use to the general
electronic hobbyist), though the season may be over by now.
The RAC also has a list of local ham equipment dealers, and they
might be a place to ask about the local electronic stores.
http://www.rac.ca/opsinfo/dealers.htm
Someone used to keep a list of local electronic stores, and it
either included those in Canada or there was an appendix, but
it's been so long since I saw mention of it that I can neither
remember any details nor expect it to still be in existence.
Since I've only been in Vancouver twice in my life, and even
if I did visit any electronic stores (I can't remember), it
was twenty years in the past so I have no idea what's there.
There used to be some hobby type stores, though generally a
lot of those everywhere have disappeared. There are bound
to be distributor type stores, and dealing with them will
likely vary, with some not wanting to deal with anyone
who isn't buying a lot of stuff. I think there's an Active
Electronics out there, and they've always been open to low
quantity purchases.
Michael
