You are in a great position because you have the option of going down to the store and actually getting your hands on one before purchasing. Personal pref and feel is the single biggest key to a good stick and it is the one thing no one else can help you with. You'll do fne and shouldn't need to worry about getting hold of a lemon.

CH products are very good, but more oriented to the sim end of gaming, so if you want rudder you will also need a set of pedals.
A stick with rudder twist is ideal if you don't want a set of pedals under your desk, but it in the beginning it is hard not to accidentally use twist in a dogfight and for sim you probably need the better accuracy a rudder set provides, doing everything with one handle is far from ideal in a game like IL-2 for instance.

I'm still waiting for the ideal setup tbh, a joystick (with rudder twist in my case) and a keyboard with throttle levers/wheels.
In practice it works best to have on hand on the joystick and one on the keyboard, so a hotas or joystick with throttle have you constantly swap.

Thrustmaster T16000M or if you like 'el cheapo' - MS Sidewinder Precision Pro/Force Feedback (NOT Precision Pro 2). If you go for Sidewinder make sure it's equiped USB (native or interface)

I can't wait to get my hands on the descent games...I wanted to get them this weekend on GOG with the Immortal Interplay deal (Descent 1+2, 3 + Expansion, Freespace 1, and 2 as well) but I've bought so many GOG games recently I had to pick and choose ;(

I'll try to score them soon though. However, I will buy a joystick ahead of time to be ready :D