Meta, which changed its name and decided to focus on metaverses, doesn't seem to be that easy to follow. The volatility of stock prices, the departure of AI technicians... It seems to have slowed down the company's "All in" pace. While progress is not so ideal, Meta is also moving forward.
Launched a VR headset device, smart glasses, and recently opened a VR game showcase... It seems that the results are quite fruitful, but the Meta to enter the metaverse always seems to be missing something.
Now, the missing piece is finally filled – Meta's first retail store is about to open.
▲ Image from: Meta
The Meta Store in Burlingame, California, the meta's first retail store and its first physical retail space, will open on May 9 and then Monday through Friday.
In the "Meta Store", you can experience all of Meta's hardware products: Portal video calling devices, Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, and Meta's current "home product", the Quest 2 and related accessories.
▲ Image from: Meta
Customers can use Portal to video call the retail clerk here to test and explore its features, or try on Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses of different styles, colors and lenses to find the one that suits them best;
▲ Image from: Meta
In the Quest 2 demo area, you can experience VR headsets with software such as Beat Saber, GOLF+, Real VR Fishing, and Supernatural. After experiencing the Quest 2 VR headset, players also get a 30-second clip of the experience mixed reality experience.
And, it's not an experience that belongs to just one person. There's also an interactive Quest 2 video wall in this area with a huge curved LED screen that shows what the experiencer sees on the VR headset.
▲ Image from: Instagram
If you want to buy your products home immediately after the experience, you can take the Quest 2 VR headset and accessories you want in the "Meta Store", or portal. But if you want to buy Ray-Ban Stories, you should consult a retail assistant to order from Ray-Ban.com.
The Meta Store isn't really big, only about 1550 square feet (about 144 square meters), but it's located near Meta's Reality Labs headquarters. The retail space is located near the research center of AR/VR technology, so that more people can experience the development results of "coming out" from here, and it is also to better build the meta-universe envisioned by Meta.
▲ Image from: Meta
It's not unusual for tech companies to open retail stores, with big companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google already taking the lead. While it's hard for other companies' retail stores to have the same effect as apple stores, for many companies, especially technology companies, the retail space that allows customers to experience the product is important.
▲ Image from: Meta
People always say that "it is better to hear than to see", even if the technology is advanced, can experience the product, so that people have a more direct understanding of the product, but also more willing to pay, especially for Meta.
Metacosmum is the product of the rapid development of the Internet and the future that Meta aims for, but for many people, it is just a less familiar term. With the "Meta Store", it can show people what are the possibilities of these real-world products, and the term metaverse can be more specifically explained.
▲ Image from: Meta
In terms of industrial layout, Meta's first retail store came a little late. But it's better to be late than to arrive, and hopefully the Meta Store will really do what it was set up for: to help people understand how the product will help them connect with the metaverse.