You won't find Fox Farms at those big box stores, although you can probably find something suitable. Do you have any Hydroponics shops near you?

I'm sure you'll get more answers from folks who've used different soils from HD, Lowes etc and found what works for them.

You can get the CFL's closer than a foot away... 3-6 inches when they are brand new seedlings and only a couple inches away once they are able to take it. Also depends on the CFL - my 150 watt CFLs (true watts - 650w eqv.) is hot as blazes but I'm assuming you have something more normal than those monsters.