Fox ... gassers? They are in a world of their own, its a different ball game there. My advice is not to trust the LHS that fast, talk to club members, ask around and find out the basis for their recommendations.

Since you are a newbie then I say go for a glow plane ... just get a nice trainer (careful about the quality, I find the RCM triner the easiest to handle in terms of building), decent engine (no OS40/46 LA please, it will not really be worth it when you up grade to be better plane) and a decent transmitter (always look medium term and not short term savings).

If you are talking strictly electric then let's say this is what you need:

Transmitter - get one with ELEVON mixing, any good 6 channel will have it
Batteries - either lipoly or NiMH, NiMH got more oooomps but heavy, lipoly is very light (your cell phone batteries)
Charger - get a good one, go for the Triton, its brilliant and will go a long way or you can just use 'pocket chargers'
Servos - you should not use standard ones as they are bigger and heavier, go for GWS stuff if you want economy
ECS - speed controller, you need to be careful, I'd say get a 30A/50A one if you are going to be very serious in EP (electric power) but if you get a brushless motor then its a different ESC altogether
Motor - normal or brushless (brushless more power and more efficient)
Plane - try Hobby Lobby, their planes fly well