Budget is going to be your driving factor here, for sure. If you want a quality site that's easy to use, though, you're pretty much going to have to go the user experience (UX) design route before you even start thinking about implementation details.
You can find outfits that do both UX and implementation (bigger companies like Habaneros will do this), or find someone to do the UX and then someone else to do the implementation (if you want cheaper, this is likely the way to go).
If you've got the budget, then starting off with a solid UX outfit that also does implementation is going to be one of the best things you can do. Habaneros is one I know of. nForm does UX, not sure about implementation. I think UX Guys is still around in Calgary, too. They're fairly big ticket, though. If you don't have the budget, then smaller outfits or freelance might be an option (disclosure: freelance UX -- though not DB implementation -- is something I do), but what you're sounding like sounds pretty big ticket, to be honest. From the little you've described, it's not going to be cheap, regardless.
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