The Metaverse will meet the real world as the company is set to open its first brick-and-mortar store in Burlingame, California, next month, Meta announced this week.
The shop will allow customers to try out Meta’s hardware products, including the Quest 2 virtual reality headset and Portal video calling system.
The store also will give people a chance to try their new Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, which customers will need to buy online directly from Ray-Ban’s website, Meta said.
“The Meta Store is going to help people make that connection to how our products can be the gateway to the metaverse in the future. We’re not selling the metaverse in our store, but hopefully people will come in and walk out knowing a little bit more about how our products will help connect them to it,” Head of Meta Store Martin Gilliard said in a blog post.
The move follows the lead of competitors Google and Microsoft. Google opened a similar store in New York City last year, while Microsoft closed 83 stores in 2020 but reopened some as “experience centers” in 2021.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, raked in $117.9 billion in 2021, up from $85.9 billion in 2020.
The store is scheduled to open on May 9.
• Peter Santo can be reached at psanto@washingtontimes.com.
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