The store will feature a wall-to-wall curved LED screen that will demonstrate what users see using Meta VR headsets.
Meta, the parent company for giant social media sites Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, is soon opening a retail store in the San Francisco Bay Area to sell hardware for the virtual reality space. The firm said in a statement the store that is set to open on May 9, 2022, would give users a “hands-on experience” with the hardware.
According to the report, users can use Portal, Meta’s AR-powered video-chatting software, to make video calls to the store’s retail associates or take videos and photos using smart Ray-Ban glasses. The store’s visitors will also be allowed to explore a real-time demo for Quest 2, Meta’s upcoming Virtual Reality headset, besides getting a 30-second mixed reality clip of their demo experience. The firm said in a blog post:
“At the Meta Store, we want you to interact with everything. We want you to pick stuff up. We want you to feel it.”
You’ve got to go check out the Meta Store
Meta described the 1,550 sq. feet store, which will be located on the firm’s Meta campus headquartered in Menlo Park, as “relatively small” for this kind of experience but said it was essential to keep it close to the Reality Labs headquarters, where its Metaverse is being built. The store will feature a wall-to-wall curved LED screen that displays what users see with the Meta headset. Martin Gilliard, Head of Meta Store, said:
“Once people experience the technology, they can better appreciate it. If we did our job right, people should leave and tell their friends, ‘You’ve got to go check out the Meta Store.’ 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.”
Give people a better understanding of the Metaverse
The technology giant, who rebranded to Meta in October 2021, hopes that store will help give people a better understanding of the Metaverse. The Metaverse is an online space where people use virtual reality headsets to access games, but they can also meet others for work and social experiences.
Many firms are already scooping up virtual properties in the Metaverse. Electronics giant Samsung is among the companies that launched Metaverse stores in the blockchain-powered world in Decentraland in January. Reports indicate that major retailers like Walmart may also be preparing to go Meta.
Tom is a freelance writer with over 10-years’ experience in content creation, blog writing, and SEO specializing in the blockchain and cryptocurrency niche. As a philosophical figurehead, he believes that to make our world a better place, we must invest in incorruptible products and procedures, of which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are leading examples.
