It depends what kind of coffee you are trying to make. If you are happy with anything that tastes more or less like coffee then buy the cheapest beans available.
But if he wants every cup to be like the best coffee he ever tasted it's a different story. Not possible with supermarket beans that were roasted a few months ago.
We had a roaster open up nearby. After a while I went in for a visit. The signs said all the right things, fresh roasted, roasting daily etc. But they were trying to sell beans to the public that were 4 or 5 months old. So I asked basically WTF where are the fresh ones? Yes they're fresh he said. They're 5 months old I said. Where are the beans roasted this week? Well, We sell those ones to cafe's!!! LOL
Never went back.