Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly: Facebook, Inc.) announced the launch of a physical retail store that will take place on May 9, 2022, located on the company’s campus in Burlingame, California.
The store, dubbed the Meta Store, will be the company’s first attempt to sell physical products, including virtual reality (VR) headsets, Quest 2 and a video calling device, Portal.
This is where the opportunity for its users to try out various Meta -owned apps such as Beat Saber and Real VR Fishing.
Not only that, the Meta Store also offers a demonstration of smart glasses, Ray-Ban Stories developed in collaboration with Ray-Ban. Even so, every purchase of this device must be made on the official Ray-Ban website.
According to the first Meta Store manager, Martin Gilliard, the presence of a physical store makes it easier for consumers to associate their products with participation in the future metaverse world:
"We don't sell metaverse here but the presence and participation of users to some extent helps them to understand the relationship between the product and the metaverse."
Meta isn’t the first tech company to open a store to showcase and demonstrate its devices.
Previously Google did the same, and Microsoft once launched 83 physical stores by 2020.
Apple, on the other hand, is aware that it has owned hundreds of stores since 2001 in promoting their products and deserves to be called 'veteran'.
Does Meta have plans to expand its product marketing to other countries? No one knows.
