DA Direct is pretty good, and a lovely and helpful employee, cbell, hangs out here too:
https://www.dadirect.com/books/ebookreader.asp
You'll see some of the devices available there.
There's also Dymocks, if your friend is a masochist (sorry, not fond of them, but your friend will know the chain and if in Sydney or I think Melbourne can look at the devices they sell in one of the big stores there)
There are other retailers as well in Oz, and I'm sure some folks will be along shortly to add to this. Note that some people have bought their devices from OS quite happily (eg. Kindle, now available internationally from Amazon, and the Sony devices from places like B&H Photo Video).
Send your mate this way though, as there'll be lots of folk happy to offer advice and their personal experiences.
Cheers,
Marc