Meet me at the Meta store

The social and tech giant is rolling back the years with the opening of an in-person store. Remember those?   

Virtual becomes reality  

With Amazon facing a slowdown in online sales for the first time since 2015, it’s ideal timing for Meta to find a new way to get ahead of its commercial rival. The California-based store, which opens its doors on May 9, will give visitors the opportunity to test out its latest techy offerings; we’re talking Portal videophones, VR headsets and the much talked about Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses. 

The store will go heavy on the hands-on side of things. Shoppers can try out Meta’s slick new video calling features, with employees on-hand to dish out the details. With additional space to try out some of Meta’s gaming offers – like GOLF+ and Beat Saber – it sounds like a fun day out.  

Starting small  

How much footfall this store can expect though, remains to be seen. Rather than setting up shop somewhere like Manhattan, as Google did with its own hardware sales store, the spot in Burlingame, CA is comfortably close to Meta’s Reality Labs HQ.  

It’s also pretty small-scale, and will only be open between 11am-6pm from Monday-Friday. Rather than a mammoth sales drive, this feels more like a tentative experiment. Perhaps a wise move from Meta, who need to first see if they can coax online shoppers out into the real world.