Well, I certainly hear what you are saying, but... that is not unusual. 80% of the industry, here and in the United States, could be seen as falling into that category. I'm just saying... in terms of a visitor to Vancouver... there is nothing here like Collectors Firearms in Houston, TX or anything even remotely similar. What there is, is a bunch of stores selling the same or similar stuff: Remington rifles and shotguns, GLOCK 17's, Beretta 92's, SIG 226's, SKS's, etc. Anything really cool and unique is gone instantly from the stores. Any real prize has to be hunted down online. Dave's offers a bit different experience for the visitor, and is worth a 20min. stop-in at least.
The Dave's staff are good guys. A good percentage of their customers are police, sheriffs, military, corrections, CBSA, etc., and you can see that quite clearly in their stock. Why else would they have all those holsters for S&W 5946, a pistol that has never really been available for individuals in Canada; or holsters for Taser X26, a prohibited weapon that has never been available to individuals in this country; badge wallets with custom department-specific cut outs; body armor, ballistic helmets, and other items they don't sell to the public. Somebody is buying this stuff.
For myself, I've been in it so long at this point, if I want something from 5.11, or Salomon, Arcteryx, or whatever, I just order direct and skip shopping for sizes these days... but if I were visiting somewhere, I'd pop into their local Mall Ninja store for a look-see. I did it when I was in D.C. in the fall. I've been going to Seattle since I was a kid, and I still like to pop in to Federal Army & Navy Surplus when I go there. Nothing wrong with it.
); Tiger is relatively near Wanstall's on the other side of the Pitt River Bridge; Lever is... a bit of a stretch here... relatively near Reliable... and Italian is about equidistant in the opposite direction. There is also DVC if you wanted to rent a gun a shoot while here.
