Decide where you (not the shop) want your rear wheel to be positioned in the stayends -- definitely not hanging out the back and definitely not all the way at the front (because then you can't loosen it and slip it forward a bit to unseat the chain and then pull the rear wheel off for a tire change). Pick the best chain length and use a simple chain tool. The Park CT-3 for 1/8" is one of the nicest out there and not expensive. Izumi chains can survive just about any chain tool, but if you change them often (for racing or just to change gearing) you should have a good tool.
Do you change gearing (if you're racing on a velodrome, or plan to, you better assume you will)? It's likely that, unless you have very long slots in your stay ends, you'll need to work with a couple chains. If you're lucky and your bottom bracket to stayend length is just right, your stay end slots are long, and your preferred gears are in a narrow range, you can get away with one chain (I typically use 46/47/48 and 13/14/15/16 in combinations that almost always amount to just about the same amount of chain). If you don't (and I'm thinking of those who like to ride a 48x14 and then a 53x15) you just swap chains when you change gears.