Meta announced today that its first retail store would open in early May on its Burlingame, California headquarters.
This will be Meta’s first hardware retail store, and it will operate Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The store’s goal is to provide people hands-on experience with the company’s products, similar to how Apple’s retail locations let buyers engage with and sample various devices in the tech giant’s ecosystem before purchasing.
The Meta Quest 2 will be tested in a special area of the new retail shop. This includes playing games like Beat Saber, Real VR Fishing, and GOLF+, as well as having the ability to take home a mixed reality recording of you using the virtual reality gear.
Customers will be able to test video calling videos on the Portal videophones in Meta’s retail shop, as well as try out the Ray-Ban Stories, a pair of smart glasses introduced by Meta last year in conjunction with the premium eyewear firm Ray-Ban.
This isn’t the first time Meta has offered potential purchasers the opportunity to check out its virtual reality gear. In 2016, Meta partnered with Best Buy to create virtual reality demo stations.
Despite the fact that the retail store appears to be large, Meta points out that the storefront is just 1,550 square feet.
Given that the site is near the Meta Reality Labs offices and not in a big metropolitan centre like New York or Los Angeles, this is unsurprising.
Meta’s decision to create its first hardware retail store comes as the business prepares to launch new VR and AR devices.
Project Cambria, a high-end headset that focuses on face and eye tracking, is currently under development.
To read our blog on “Most important announcements VR made at the Meta Quest games show” click here.
