Tech

The first “Meta Store” is opening in California in May

The first Meta Store won't necessarily be your one-stop shop for all things sold by Meta—as this artistic interpretation points to one thing <em>not</em> sold by the store until further notice.

Enlarge / The first Meta Store won’t necessarily be your one-stop shop for all things sold by Meta—as this artistic interpretation points to one thing not sold by the store until further notice. (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

On May 9, Meta will double down on its metaverse sales pitch by… making people drive to California to sample its wares at a single physical location.

The uncreatively named Meta Store will showcase every physical product the company sells under its various branded umbrellas, particularly the Meta Quest 2 VR system (formerly Oculus Quest 2). The company’s first retail store will be housed in a 1,550-square-foot space on Meta’s Burlingame, California, campus, which houses a number of Meta’s VR- and AR-specific development efforts, and it will allow the public to test and purchase any of Meta’s physical products.

But it’s not a comprehensive Meta sales location, as its shelves will not include access to the reams of user data accumulated by the company’s network of criss-crossed sites—though we’ll keep our eyes peeled in case the Meta Store decides to unveil a Cambridge Analytica-themed aisle in the future.

Read 5 remaining paragraphs | Comments