What’s the best way to first experience the limitless virtual reality (VR) of the metaverse? For some it’s a 1,550-square-foot physical store location opening May 9 in Burlingame, California.
Pushing past that irony, Meta (née Facebook) announced Monday (April 25) that it is opening the Meta Store, giving passersby the opportunity to touch, try — and ideally, buy.
Plans for a Meta Store came to light late last year as CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the name change and new market positioning strategy. The company has done a series of pop-up stores displaying its Oculus VR headsets in recent years, but nothing on this level.
The inaugural Meta Store in San Mateo County is debuting around a series of VR partnerships and experiences in a setting that encourages shoppers to touch everything.
“At the Meta Store, we want you to interact with everything,” the company said in a press release. “We want you to pick stuff up. We want you to feel it.”
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Metaverse Becomes a Chorus
Looking in photos like a cross between a mobile phone retailer and an Apple Store, the Meta Store is putting its best foot forward, spotlighting the line of Ray-Ban Stories sunglasses that first became available last year.
Per the initial September announcement, “Ray-Ban Stories include a dual integrated 5MP camera to capture photo and video; discreet open-ear speakers to listen, and a three-microphone audio array to deliver rich voice and sound transmission for calls and videos,” with prices starting at $299.
Sure to appeal to the many metaverse enthusiasts unenthused by giant VR goggles, the Ray-Ban tie-in is one of several the Meta Store is relying on to drive traffic, and more so, interest.
Also available to be put on and played with is Meta’s line of Quest all-in-one metaverse headsets (starting price $299). Per the Monday press release, an interactive Quest 2 display wall lets Quest-curious shoppers try hardware, accessories and content in an “immersive Quest 2 demo area, where you can try Beat Saber, GOLF+, Real VR Fishing or Supernatural on a large, wall-to-wall curved LED screen that displays what you’re seeing in-headset.”
There’s even a 30-second “mixed reality clip of your demo experience” to walk out with.
Shoppers wandering into the Meta Store can also test out the latest in the company’s line of Portal video conferencing products with Amazon “Hey Alexa” voice features built in.
Portal features including its Story Time filters capability give glimpses into ways the metaverse can fit into and improve aspects of everyday life, like reading a child a story without being physically present via video and “starring” in the story using creative filters to enhance the fun.
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Physical Stores as Metaverse Gateway
“Once people experience the technology, they can gain a better appreciation for it,” Martin Gilliard, head of Meta Store, said in the release.
That’s really the point of the Meta Store — to create metaverse demand via old-school retail stores until critical mass is achieved online.
The Meta Store is in the vicinity of Meta’s Reality Labs, with the idea that learnings from the store can more quickly be turned around as new items and experiences in-store.
“What we learn [in store] will help define our future retail strategy,” Gilliard said in the release, adding that the physical location “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,” he said.
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