Don’t be confused here, but while Meta wants to enhance the virtual and augmented realities with the Metaverse, the company is also taking it to the real world. Next month, a retail store is about to open its doors in Burlingame, California.
The physical Meta Store is launching on May 9. It is a retail space where you can check out some of the products available. You can try out the Meta Quest 2, Ray-Ban Stories, or the Meta Portal. The store allows a hands-on experience of the items on sale.
Designer: Meta
The Meta Store offers interactive demos like making video calls on the Meta Portal. The Meta Quest 2 demo is immersive with VR. Test yourself how the Ray-Ban Stories can help you be present with the world around you. The pair can help you capture those special memories and share them easily. There are plenty of styles and colors available, as well as a variety of lenses.
The Meta team simply wants people to get a hold of and feel a product first before purchasing—like in the old days. Interacting with everything must be experienced first before deciding if you really want the full Meta experience. It’s an interesting move, actually since the pandemic isn’t over yet. Meta is mainly a digital company too, so going into the real world is deemed unnecessary. But then again, other tech giants like Microsoft and Google also have their physical stores.
Head of Meta Store Martin Gilliard said, “Once people experience the technology, they can gain a better appreciation for it. If we did our job right, people should leave and tell their friends, ‘You’ve got to go check out the Meta Store.’”
There is a Meta Quest 2 display wall at the Meta Store. It is quite interactive as you can try the hardware, accessories, and content ready. An immersive demo area is where you can experience titles like Supernatural, Real VR Fishing, GOLF+, or Beat Saber. These apps can be tried on a wall-to-wall curved LED display. The Meta Store will even provide you with a 30-second mixed reality video of your experience that you can share on social media.
The Meta Store is set in a 1,550 square feet area. The Burlingame store is near the Reality Labs HQ. Interestingly, Meta also added a new Shop tab on meta.com where you can purchase all hardware products online.
The Meta Store will open on May 9. It will be ready to accept visitors from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM PT, Monday to Friday only. The store is located at 322 Airport Blvd in Burlingame, California.
