theme vs html template + developer fixes?

I’m building a product review website where I’ll be reviewing products in different categories. I have ecommerce experience (I’ve built a few Shopify websites), but I’m new to WP.
I’m trying to figure out the best way to build the website. I want it to be easy to use (make small changes, writing posts etc) but also very fast and SEO friendly. I’m debating between purchasing a fully developed theme (I like ReHub) and purchasing an HTML template (ReHub is available in this format too). In the latter option, I would then hire a developer on upwork to customize the site.

My question is: which option is better based on your experience, and why? Is any of the two better for ranking the website? Or easier to edit-maintain given my experience?
NOTE: price is not an issue.

Thanks!

• This topic was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by Jan Dembowski. Reason: Moved to Fixing WordPress, this is not an Developing with WordPress topic
• This topic was modified 3 years, 8 months ago by James Huff. Reason: subject de-capped, no shouting please