I keep coming back to this question with thoughts. Guess it is time to put them up here 
Title asks if you should buy the one on the rack. I have a bit of a long story here. The short story is that I have had good and bad buying experiences both off the rack and unseen. Here is the long story:
When I decided to learn guitar, I initially bought a low budget S-type ākitā that had a dismal practice amp, cord, guitar, and sundry stuff. It had problems that should not have been on a new product - the volume needed to be rotated several times to clean it before it worked, the cord needed to be held off to the side or it would lose connection, the frets were so sharp they tore up my hand. I was happy to have something and knew i could fix these problems. Then, my wife asked to try it. She handled it for maybe 30 seconds and said āthis is junk, letās get you a good oneā. So the budget guitar got packaged back up and returned.
A couple days later, we were in our local big-name guitar store. My wife pointed at something on the wall before we even walked half way to it and exclaimed"that one". It turned out to be a PRS SE Tremonti. She didnāt care it was 4x the cost of the budget guitar. It was sold as ānewā with warranty and all. When I got it home, I noticed that at least one of the pickups was odd. Turned out someone had owned it before (so wasnāt new!) and had swapped out the Tremonti branded pickups with something from Gibson. I clearly couldnāt register this as new, so contacted the store who were happy to order me a new one. I learned that I really need to watch what is on the shelf at that store, examine everything about the guitar and investigate before making my purchase. They were happy to sell a used guitar as new, and it was even back on the new shelf a few weeks after I returned it, letting them know it had been altered.
About 8 months later, it was my birthday and I wanted a guitar with single coils. I wanted a different neck feel as well (thinner and non-glossy), and a bit lighter if I could. I researched split coils, tapped coils, the sound of different brands, opinions on neck shape, etc. I finally decided on the Ibanez S series. The one I found was a floor demo in another town and the salesman suggested I donāt want it because it has seen a lot of handling. I found another model that was similar, but missing one feature, and had a pretty finish (SEW761CW). I bought this unseen, mail order. I have been very happy with it and expect my research played the major role in my satisfaction.
As others have said, your goals will change. I tried a V-shape neck and think I probably want one of those now. I also think Iād like an acoustic, which I really would have declined 2 years ago.
Buying something without much experience to compare it with is risky, but you cannot get that experience without taking the risk. I am usually successful using the method on the Ibanez - research to make an informed decision, and donāt expect inferior quality to result in satisfaction.
Bit of a long story, but maybe you can pull some wisdom from my lack of experience as a new guitarist.
did you have fun exploring the various options? When are you planning to go and see some more now 
Just have to keep looking until you find the one you want to take home with you.
