Food and Beverages
Electronics
FreeGeek Vancouver: 1820 Pandora street - Nonprofit that recycles old computers and electronics. Go volunteer sometime. Permanently closed December 2022.
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Lin Haw: Marine Drive (wholesale commercial/IT supplies. Will only sell to businesses, so just say you're from VHS and they'll let you buy stuff.)
The Hackery: Franklin and Victoria, used computers and parts
Art Supplies
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Michaels:
Alberni Street near Burrard Street and (Permanently closed Jan 2021.) Broadway near Cambie. Has almost everything craft-related, but is expensive. Via their mobile app there's nearly always a 50%-off one item coupon.
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Urban Source: Collects materials from local industries, diverting safe, useable off-cuts, discards, misprints and over-stock from the land fill. Main and 16th.
Craft Supplies
Hardware
Greenline - 1521 Venables Street - plumbing, fitting and hose (note: tell them you're from VHS and you'll get a 30% discount!)
Makerparts: OpenBuilds and v-slot distributor, located in Richmond with local pickup at a UPS Store
Castertown - 1075 Clark Drive - wheels and hardware
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Home Depot - Terminal Ave (about 1km east of Science World), or Cambie & 8th
Canadian Tire - Cambie & 7th or Bentall Street (Near Rupert & Grandview)
Screws, Fasteners
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Need help figuring out what nut, bolt, screw, washer or fastener what you want? See this handy page!
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Pacific Fasteners: 3934 East 1st Ave. They stock a huge range of fasteners (nuts, bolts, screws, nails etc.) and are pretty close to MRO.
Old Catalog
Makerparts: OpenBuilds and v-slot distributor, located in Richmond with local pickup at a UPS Store
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Fastenal: SE Marine Dr and Knight St, and many other locations.
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McMaster Carr: US. Massive catalog of engineering components. Not the cheapest, but the only source for many things.
Misumi USA: US. Another massive catalog of engineering components.
Bolt Depot: US. Often cheaper than McMaster, and has a better selection of metric fasteners.
Bearings
Ringball: Mainly bearings, some linear slides and some acme screws and such. Good prices, but $30 minumum order.
Makerparts: OpenBuilds and v-slot distributor, located in Richmond with local pickup at a UPS Store
DealExtreme: Free shipping, probably knockoff bearings.
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Gears
QTC Metric Gears: QTC Metric Gears offers the largest selection of metric gears in North America.
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McMaster Carr: Massive catalog of engineering components. Not the cheapest, but the only source for many things.
Misumi USA: Another massive catalog of engineering components.
Springs
Magnets
K&J Magnetics: Large selection of every kind of magnet imaginable, with detailed information, selection guides, and calculators.
Metal Supermarket: Two locations: close to Lake City Way skytrain station in Burnaby AND just East of the Knight St Bridge (close to the IKEA) in Richmond. Good source for metal rods, beams, angled, etc. in stainless steel, aluminum and more. Burnaby location supplies the Richmond location apparently. At the Burnaby location, talk to Trevor and mention that you're with VHS for a discount!
Metal Mart: Supplier of metal stock similar to Metal Supermarket, and has both water-jet and plasma cutters. Langley.
North Star Metal: Metal recycling (wander around; just stay clear of the forklifts). Powell & Clark in Vancouver.
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MB Superior Metals: Metal recycling (good for wire; ask them to see it). Grant St and Clark Dr, just north of 1st Ave.
Esthers Sheet Metal: 3890 East First Ave. Next to Pacific Fasteners. Is a trade supplier that mostly does made to measure flashings for construction. Will cut metal sheet to size and bend as per
spec.
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Capilano Rock & Gem: Near Capilano Mall in North Van (copper, brass, sterling silver, gold, etc)
Extrusion
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Makerparts: OpenBuilds and v-slot distributor, located in Richmond with local pickup at a UPS Store
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KMS Tools: Next to the IKEA in Coquitlam. Mention you're with the VHS Group Rewards program at the checkout!
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Thomas Skinner: Just East of the Knight St Bridge (close to the IKEA) in Richmond.
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Princess Auto: Opposite side of the highway from IKEA in Coquitlam.
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Capilano Rock & Gem: Near Capilano Mall in North Van (silversmithing & jewellery making supplies)
Foundries
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Sarber Jewellers: Full service jewelry and small sculpture casting and precious sheet metal sales
Fabricators and Machine Shops
Industrial Laser Cutting: Laser cutting of mild and stainless steel, aluminium, acrylic, and wood for low/medium production runs and prototyping, and also have a CNC press brake. No 2 Road in Richmond.
Metal Mart: Supplier of metal stock similar to Metal Supermarket, and has both water-jet and plasma cutters. Langley.
Woods
Home Depot - Terminal Ave (about 1km east of Science World)
Windsor Plywood -
Near Granville & Broadway (Permanently Closed 2024), 1098 SW Marine Drive (bottom of Oak Street)
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PJ White Hardwoods Vancouver - 1200 East Kent Ave S (Near Knight). Large selection of furniture grade wood (Oak, Cherry, Maple, Walnut etc)
Woodworking
Adhesives, Casting and Mould Making
CECCORP: CA glues and various other professional adhesives. Developed and manufactured in Port Coquitlam.
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Costuming and Makeup FX
Fiber-tek: Boundary Rd at 1st Ave. Sell Worbla and casting supplies.
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Studio F/X: Georgia St at Hornby St downtown. Enter via the side door, not via the Cathedral Place mall/lobby as it's locked outside regular business hours. Good selection of makeup FX products, but not as general a product range as HollyNorth.
Thomas FX: North Vancouver, just over the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge. Large range of makeup FX and production supplies.
Plastics
Tags: plastic, acrylic, plexiglas
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Urban Source: Main Street between 15th and 16th Ave (cheap offcuts and cool craft materials).
Sabic Polymershapes: Near United Blvd and Mary Hill Bypass in Coquitlam (wholesale quantities (i.e. 48“x96” sheets) and custom cutting)
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3D-Printing Filament
Filaments.ca: Free shipping over $125. VHS Affiliation link.
Miscellaneous
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Princess Auto: Opposite side of the highway from IKEA in Coquitlam.
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Grainger: Formerly Acklands Grainger. Wide selection of industrial supplies. Located in Burnaby, just off Lougheed between Brentwood and Burnaby Lake. Limited hours (no weekends).
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Wainbee: Hydraulics, pneumatics, toggle clamps, actuators, electromechanical (steppers, servos, etc). Surrey.
Soper's Supply: Electric motors, pumps, blowers, fans, pulleys, belts. 6th Ave at Columbia St.
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Steep Hill Equipment: Used processing and packaging equipment. Excellent, cheap source of quality industrial motors. Check their
eBay page for current listings.
Thrift and Second-Hand Stores
Hobby and Radio Control
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Lift RC: Located in PoCo, but online-only.
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Computers & etc
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Linhaw: Cables, racks, etc (Need an account ahead of time, sells to businesses only, or just say you're from VHS; we have a cash account with them)
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Online Retailers
Electronic Components
Digikey: They've got pretty much anything, and they ship overnight from Canada.
Mouser: Similar to Digikey, but ship from the US (taking an extra day usually).
Arrow: Similar to Digikey, but ship from the US (taking an extra few days usually).
Newark element14: Similar to Digikey and Mouser, but slower and more expensive shipping.
SparkFun: Awesome site with tutorials and lots of breakout boards and rad parts.
Adafruit: Good starter kits, mostly revolve around Arduino.
Seeed Studio: Similar to SparkFun, located in China. Offers services such as PCB manufacturing and laser cutting also.
ITead Studio: Similar to Seeed Studio, and also located in China.
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Buy a PI: Ontario based seller of Raspberry Pis and electronic modules.
Free samples
Many semiconductor manufacturers run sample programs that let you get small quantities of chips for very cheap or free. Some programs require a registered business contact. See this wiki page for more information.
Robotics
Solarbotics: Robotics related parts (motors, electronics, gears, sensors, etc).
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Travers Tool Co: Very large selection of machining parts, tooling, and accessories.
Little Machine Shop: Specializing in smaller hobby and bench-top machines, parts, tooling, and accessories.
Atlas Machinery: Located in Toronto. Wide variety of tools, machinery, and accessories.
4GT: Located in Nanaimo. Sells ER20/ER32 collets and collet holders compatible with the Tormach Tooling System (not Tormach products however).
Aluminum Extrusion
Materials
Inventables: Acrylic sheets, woods and vaneers, moulding materials, etc.
RepRaper: Cheap ABS and PLA filament, parts, and electronics for 3D printers.
OpenBeam USA: An online retail store that sells mechanical bits and pieces for your projects.
McMaster Carr: Massive catalog of engineering components. Not the cheapest, but the only source for many things.
Misumi USA: Another massive catalog of engineering components.
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Industrial Controls and Parts
Automation Direct: Huge selection of parts for automation, controls, and building machines.
McMaster Carr: Massive catalog of engineering components. Not the cheapest, but the only source for many things.
Misumi USA: Another massive catalog of engineering components.
English Language
Ali Express: Sort of Amazon meets eBay in China - and almost everything that is manufactured in or for China is available here (i.e. almost everything).
Deal Extreme: Almost anything is available here from electronics dev boards to clothing. Chinese, very cheap price & quality, free slow shipping.
Bang Good: Very similar to Deal Extreme in every way, but often cheaper.
Alibaba: Manufacturer-direct sales for larger order volumes.
Hobby King: Hobby parts, kits, and products for RC cars, multicopters, etc.
Chinese Language
Google Translate does a decent job. Refine searches by extracting keywords from the best results and running them through Google Translate again.
Taobao: Like Ali Express but in Chinese with a larger selection and lower prices. You may have to use shipping agents.
T-Mall: Similar to Taobao but aimed at brands and larger/more reputable businesses. Far less selection or niche products.
Miscellaneous
Surplus
Apex Jr: Surplus gear at good prices, lots of audio amplifier bits including toroids. Will ship a 4 lb bag for US$13.
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In general Point Roberts is closer and easier on Transit/Bike. Blaine is further but offers the chance to pick up a parcel as part of another trip. Tax info at CBSA.
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Kinek: Blaine & Point Roberts
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Rentals
Other