Good day everyone. I recently posted my question on the (weighted) digital keyboard, and was delighted by the breadth of knowledge and experiences that were shared. Thanks to you all again!
As I wrote, I planned a piano-buying expedition across Canada, and though I was optimistic at the outset, I feel a little disgruntled, but also somewhat enlightened by the experience.
Out of all the pianos I played (many...) only ONE was in perfect tune in the showrooms, a beautiful 9' New York Steinway, already sold: pianos that were selling for up to $175,000 were out of tune, and many were imperfectly regulated. Although I understand that no dealer can afford to keep all the stock in perfect playing condition, it did make things awfully tricky. And of course I would feel unreasonable asking a dealer to tune and regulate "on spec" as it were. Coming home to my Yamaha digital was actually quite a relief in some ways, but not what I expected.
So, I came home with no piano....and the search will go on.
In one sense I have regained an appreciation for my humble digital - it certainly has a 'character' of its own, but it's always in tune and never needs expert help. I'm temporarily more confused then ever!

Any tips?

Because pianos have to be transported after sale, shops usually provide a tuning service after the piano is delivered - they tend to go out of tune when moved. So perhaps there's little incentive to keep them in perfect tune in the showroom.

You can assume that any new piano is capable of being tuned. You should be looking for whether you like the action, and the tone throughout the range of notes, and unless the instrument is horrendously out of tune it should be possible to tell these things. Of course, you don't have a tuning problem with a digital piano, but all acoustics gradually go out of tune to a greater or lesser extent; many people have them tuned twice a year.

Hope you have better luck choosing next time you go.

Thank you for the good wishes! Yes, definitely, all this is true, but I've noticed that pianos can almost change their personalities when properly tuned....a long time ago I remember playing a Kawai 7' that when tuned had the sweetest voice imaginable, but when out of tune it seemed like it could only bark at you - a real split personality. It almost seemed like a differently voiced piano in tune/out of tune. Also, and this is probably my limitation, I find it much more difficult to determine dynamic capabilities when the instrument's out of tune. Maybe I'm just way too picky!

First of all I don't know about the climate in Canada, but the weather might have something to do with it to. Where I speak for my own situation: when the weather changes (like now going from winter to summer) all piano's are out of tune and it is no use to tune them yet because of the unstable temperature and humidity. So maybe when you visit the shop again after a month or so your experience will be better. Good luck with your search.

My new piano took about a year to settle down properly and I was told this was normal. It was probably tuned about three times in the first year. Since that initial teething though it has been wonderful. Infact last tuning it had hardly gone out of tune in a whole year and its keeping its tone a lot better. It gets a lot of use/abuse too so I was pretty impressed. I do know what you mean about out of tune pianos in showrooms though - it can be very offputting - I guess you have to rely on instinct.

It's a good point: the temperature/humidity variations can be huge over here and I know what these can do to a piano.....thanks for the input!