I would say hit Dave's Surplus and Tactical in New Westminster as your number one stop. That is the only place in the Lower Mainland that you don't really have an obvious counterpart to in Alberta. Your first time there... it will be a bit of a unique experience.
Reliable Gun & Tackle, as much as I love those guys, and have been an almost weekly patron there for the better part of a decade (for ammo), it is mostly Remington shotguns and hunting rifles! O.k., maybe that isn't fair... they have other stuff, but don't expect to see rack after rack of AR-15's, other restricted long-guns and uncommon or unusual handguns (You aren't going to see anything like that anywhere in Canada). Anything really cool and unusual tends to get snapped up quickly (especially there), and what is left is the normal stuff that everybody who buys from the Canadian distributors has.
Italian, I live 5 minutes from there and I barely go there! I sometimes stop in and buy ammo, but that is about it. Once you have seen GLOCK 17's and SIG 226's and Remington rifles and shotguns in stores a few times, the experience starts to wear a bit thin. I'm pretty up-and-down with the staff there as well, although several of the "hired help" (i.e. non family member type people) are actually pretty helpful these days. They seem to have taken at least some steps to address their reputation for brutal customer service and ignoring people who are standing there waiting for help, which really was an issue with that store in years past in my view.
I personally feel Lever is worth checking out if you have never been there. Of course it was a lot more fascinating in (probably all of) its earlier incarnations, but they still usually have a few things worth looking at. And if all else fails you can check out Kin's gun collection hanging on the walls.
Beyond that... you are just wasting time and gas money. Wanstall's... the two Craig's are nice guys, but... there isn't anything overly unique there. Just look at their website, subtract about 40% of what you see, and that is what will be in the store at any given time. It is not worth a special trip all the way out to Maple Ridge.
Blueline... don't bother, unless driving to the PCHFC range, and even then... it is barely worth stopping in my humble opinion. While it is expensive to stock a store, you do have to have some stock. Otherwise what is the point?
If you want to really check out something cool and have a few "wow" moments, go to a gun store in Washington State, or better yet, somewhere like Texas or Arizona.
