Meta Platforms Inc has announced the launch of its first physical store. The store, which opens on May 9 next month, aims to offer shoppers a place where they can try out and buy virtual reality headsets and other gadgets.
The 1,550-square feet Meta Store at the company’s Burlingame campus in California will open on May 9, 2022, and will feature demos for its Quest 2 VR headset and video calling device Portal, as well as smart glasses it produces with Ray-Ban, Meta said. “The devices, except for the Ray-Ban glasses, will be available for purchase at the store. The products can also be bought online through a new shopping tab on meta.com,” the company added.
“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,” Martin Gilliard, head, Meta Store, stated.
Earlier this month, the Facebook owner said it would start testing tools for selling digital assets and experiences within its virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds, a VR platform Meta launched late last year. Additionally, Meta said it would charge a 47.5% fee from creators of digital experiences and assets, a move that has attracted criticism from some app developers.
(With inputs from Reuters)
