The price difference on cameras appears to have narrowed in recent years, partly because the regular dealers of such popular brands as Nikon, Canon, Minolta and Hasselblad have lowered their prices. So a $200 Seiko watch retails at stores that buy through the gray market for $140 to $160, while a $60 bottle of Dom Perignon champagne goes for $40 at California wine shops that stock up at an unauthorized, gray market distributor.
To many shoppers it seems like a dream come true - name brand cameras, electronic goods, watches and even the fanciest perfumes and most expensive champagnes at discounts of as much as 30 percent under list price. New York City, through such outlets as the low-overhead 47th Street Photo, serves as the center of the country's gray market activities.
Most are purchased overseas at prices that are far below what the authorized American distributors pay and are sold at heavy discounts through outlets as varied as the K mart chain and W. They are part of a "gray market" in brand name imports that come into this country legally, but outside the regular distribution channels. The room-sized safe is filled with Seiko watches, tens of thousands of them stacked in boxes and cartons, destined for discount stores all over the United States.
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