Some good advice so far. I like the idea of taking someone with you know knows a fair amount about guitars.

Check the neck, make sure it's straight. Put a little side to side pressure on the neck to make sure it''s seated nice and tight. You don't want the neck moving on your guitar. I bought a brand new guitar about a year ago. All in all it was a great guitar EXCEPT for the slop from the finishing process. There was some polyurethane build up in the neck pocket that kept it from sitting against the body firmly... Thus, it would shift on me. It was an easy enough fix, just had to clean out the neck pocket.

If you're a tinker like me, I like to get a guitar that has a good neck and good body. The rest can be less expensive parts. I like to tinker and upgrade my guitars. Well... Except for my Epiphone Les Paul Prophecy, It's still stock.

Anyway, have fun, don't stress over it. Pick up the one you can and or want to afford.