Many of the shops around here are terrible about stocking "temporary aquatic plants" and so I've gotten in the habit of being very choosy and careful about what I buy. I see virtually all the shops selling Lucky Bamboo as a true aquaric plant though the PetSmart selling it has it mostly above the water and not submerged like most other places do.
IMO your best bet is to look for what you like, write down names then come online and look them up before you buy them to make sure this doesn't happen again. It's saved me from a few mistakes. Lovely as some plants look underwater, I prefer them to live more than six months or if they do die, because of my rotten green thumb.
Though that's changing now that I've gotten more information on growing plants. I'm scared to say my planted tank is actually doing well. I just know it'll go South soon now that I've said it.