Lots of good advice so far... I'm going to second
@NorCal's recommendation to look for classes. If you can find one where you get to do a small table or something, you will learn a TON in doing that...
I feel like quality wood would be hard to find.....Are there craft wood stores? Never seen one.
Depends on what you are looking for. When I was building my own furniture I was using rough cut lumber, so I had to square it. That is not hard to find at all. There are generally a handful or so of the right store in a large city, so enough, but unless you go find them, you will never notice.
Generally they are called a "lumber yard" or a "lumber company". Google for (or really search on Google Maps for) "rough cut lumber" plus your city and I'm sure you will find a number of options (ignore the few box stores that show up and start googling the other names to find what species they stock...).
Some will clean up the lumber for you (S2S/S3S/S4S) for a cost. [see
https://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/articles/s2s-and-s4s-what-gives/ ] ... that helps reduce the number of tools you need to have in your shop.
Of course, if you live in places where they cut down the trees, you may find a local sawmill that has local wood for sale... and those are places where you can find great values, due to no middleman, and low transportation costs built into the price. (I used to drive 30 mi to a sawmill since I could buy at 1/2 the price of the more local location...)
A few other thoughts for those learning:
(1) Learn about wood - some is softer and easier to work with, some chips easily. Starting in a hardwood (not pine), but something softer, less prone to chipping and lowest in cost is a good idea. I went from Ash to Red Oak to White Oak (the last being what my furniture is made from, but it chips easily due to its toughness, so very tricky to start with it)
(2) Recognize Pine is fine for proof of concepts (my first raised panel door was partially made from Pine and I still keep it as a useful model)
(3) Own a fireplace/wood stove or find a friend who will appreciate the kindling. You will generate PLENTY of it if you build anything substantial, especially from rough cut lumber (which will have knots and other things you probably will avoid)