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On the 9th of May 2022, Meta opened its first physical store in California, the U.S., displaying its Quest headsets, smart glasses, and video chat devices.
Like Apple, Amazon, Google, and HTC, Meta has opened its first physical store for customers to witness the metaverse and try their Ray-Ban Stories, Quest headsets, and video chat devices called Portal. An effective strategy, as virtual reality, must be experienced in person to understand its transportive effects.
The store is 144-square-meter and placed in Meta’s metaverse location of 322 Airport Blvd., Burlingame, California. “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.” as Martin Gilliard, head of the Meta Store, reflects on the store’s location.
Interestingly, Meta was and still is a software company. Although since its foray into hardware and the enabling ecosystem required to realize its metaverse plans: a physical store is crucial. As Martin Gilliard states: “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”.
At the store, people can experience interactive demos and talk virtually with retail associates: all in a quest to make virtual reality and the metaverse more mainstream.
Meta’s foray into a physical retail store is a sound strategy to make virtual reality and the metaverse more mainstream. The store provides an opportunity for people to experience virtual reality and understand its transportive effects, all in a quest to develop its hardware ecosystem around Meta’s metaverse plans.
