Also consider looking at touring bikes. You’ll get wider tires, good gearing, and more robust frames. Might get a good second hand value, or some luck with sales if those styles aren’t popular at your LBS.

If you live in an urban area, I would highly recommend a Brompton. It does fine on bumpy roads. Folds up very quick and you can you use as rolling luggage or shopping cart when on transit or in a store. The gearing is quite nice and i can go above 20mph easily on flatish ground.

“Hybrid” is so wide a category to be almost meaningless. However, if you are thinking you need suspension, I’d try to direct you away from that. They make a bike more heavy, expensive and complex and usually don’t increase comfort much if at all.

However, smooth non-skinny tires are a benefit for most cases (comfort, durability, grip, puncture resistance…). So I’d say get a simple bike with room for wider tires (like 40mm / 1.5") and fenders. You can get a bike that is still very efficient without going to a racing bike that compromises everything for efficiency. I’d also push you towards full length fenders and other practicalities that make a bike much more useful for incorporation into everyday life.

But your question I think is too broad for anyone to help very specifically. Budget is a huge variance for instance, with some people thinking US$300 is expensive and others thinking US$2000 is “cheap”. I’d stay away from anything under $400 as false economy, but for $5-600 you can get a bike that, with care, will transport you efficiently for a long time. More towards $1000 gets you solid value and improved function, and gains per dollar tail off above that.

Definitely go to a bike shop, as they should be able to repair anything they sell. A coworker of mine learned the hard way that that may not be the case for a department store bike. I commuted happily for years on both a Trek and a Norco, the features I found most useful were a rear rack, fenders, disc brakes, puncture proof tires, and no suspension.