I had another look around Yodobashi Camera’s flagship megastore in Akihabara recently. It certainly has a excellent selection, and the store itself is very nice, but pricewise it is beaten heartily by Amazon, and any serious seller with Kakaku.com or Rakuten (although these two really require a Japanese bank account to get the best deals).
For tourists who can’t or would rather not use internet retailers it is probably a great convenience - it certainly has plenty of foreign patrons. However , with all the excellent specialist shops in the Akihabara environs it is a little hard to recommend to anyone with the time to look around.
For physical stores I think I prefer Bic Camera, although this probably comes from being near to all their stores in Ikebukuro. Pricewise there is little difference; they both operate essential (about 10%) point card schemes (not compatible with duty free shopping); sticking with one or the other is probably best for the sake of the cards (the cards work well in that respect).
Gundam and figures are reasonably stocked and nicely displayed. Nothing too risque, however.
Airsoft guns seem a popular item judging by the amount of shelf space they receive.
A good selection of anime DVDs.
Drama CDs and seiyuu CDs are also well stocked.
Short of photographing hundreds of shelves of boxes, I couldn’t find any way of conveying the scale of their PC section, but pricewise you would do well to head over to the nearby Tsukumo stores for a probably better selection at extremely reasonable prices in admittedly well worn stores. Their game section seems nothing to write home about.
I almost tore that place apart looking for a Lain (in bear suit) figure in 2006. I saw it one day but didn’t have any cash, so I came back the next week and it was already gone. I spent about 20 mins going through all the shelves and speaking to the staff in broken Japanese, but no success… none of the shops around Akiba had it, either. Of course, with 20/20 hindsight I should’ve just used my credit card in the first place…
Any Lain figure is a definite want…