World’s First “Meta” Store Opens in Bay Area May 9

Bay Area is home to the very first Meta Store...because of course it is. The first physical retail space, opens May 9 on the Facebook…err…Meta campus in Burlingame, California. In the Meta Store, you’ll be able to get hands-on experience with all their hardware products.

Through interactive demos, you can make video calls to retail associates with Meta Portal, learn how Ray-Ban Stories can help you stay present with the world around you, and explore the magic of VR with a first-of-its-kind immersive Meta Quest 2 demo. Plus, they’re also making it easier to shop Meta Portal, Ray-Ban Stories and Meta Quest all in one place online, in a new Shop tab on meta.com.

At the Meta Store, you’re encouraged to interact with everything. Despite Meta throwing more and more time and money to actively building its Metaverse, a digital universe, in their real-life physical store, they want you to actually pick stuff up and feel it.

“Once people experience the technology, they can gain a better appreciation for it. If we did our job right, people should leave and tell their friends, ‘You’ve got to go check out the Meta Store.’” – Martin Gilliard, Head of Meta Store

Step inside the Meta Store and you’ll discover how Ray-Ban Stories help you capture and share memories without taking you out of the moment. And you can try on a range of style, color and lens variations to find the perfect fit for you. You’ll also be able to check out Meta Portal in a special demo area. Once inside, you can place a video call to a retail associate to fully explore its capabilities, see Smart Camera in action and play with features like Story Time.

The Meta Store also features an interactive Meta Quest 2 display wall, allowing you to explore the hardware, its accessories, and the breadth of content available today. Last but not least is our immersive 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. You’ll also get a 30-second mixed reality clip of your demo experience that’s yours to share.

At roughly 1,550 square feet, the Meta Store has a relatively small footprint for an engaging experience. It was also important for us to launch the first Meta Store near Reality Labs HQ, where they’re helping build the metaverse.

“Having the store here in Burlingame gives us more opportunity to experiment and keep the customer experience core to our development. What we learn here will help define our future retail strategy.” – Martin Gilliard, Head of Meta Store

Ultimately, our goal with the Meta Store is to show people what’s possible with our products today, while giving a glimpse into the future as the metaverse comes to life — and hopefully demystifying that concept a bit in the process.

“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 of Meta Store

Starting May 9, the store will be open Monday through Friday from 11:00AM to 6:00PM PT. It’s located at 322 Airport Blvd in Burlingame, California. You’ll be able to purchase Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 2 accessories and Meta Portal devices. If you’re interested in purchasing Ray-Ban Stories, a retail associate will help you order them directly from Ray-Ban.com.