Alright, buckle up, because Meta has been… well, kinda dipping its toes in the retail scene for a while—think of a kid testing the pool water—and now, maybe, just maybe, they want to dive in headfirst. I heard through the grapevine (okay, it was Business Insider, not an actual grapevine, but wouldn’t that be cool?) that Meta is hiring folks for more physical stores. Like, beyond those quirky pop-up shops they flirted with last year.
Supposedly, they might go all Apple on us with their retail vibe, although it’s still hush-hush, super early stuff. I mean, last year’s Los Angeles pop-up was all over the news and stuff. But since 2016, they’ve been doing these little side gigs with pop-ups and teaming with Best Buy to show off their XR headsets.
Now picture this: they’ve got a single, lonely, permanent Meta Store chilling in Burlingame, California, since 2022. It’s like the cool hangout spot next to their Reality Labs campus. You can try out the Quest 3, Quest 3S, and those nifty Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses there. Oh, and those glasses? They’re the star of this whole retail push, kinda sorta. Made with EssilorLuxottica (a mouthful, right?), they’ve really been a hit! Over a million sold in 2024 alone! Mark Zuckerberg was practically doing cartwheels over that “great start.”
And get this, EssilorLuxottica plans to ramp up production to a whopping 10 million units a year by 2026. These glasses—they’re packing cameras, Meta AI assistant, and cool off-ear speakers. I can’t even get my headphones right, but sure, glasses can do that.
Anyway, I heard from Bloomberg (or was it someone else?) in April, that they’re eyeing more new styles, maybe even some sporty Oakleys. And at this point, every tech giant is itching to toss their hat in the smart glasses ring. Google, for one, is cooking up something snazzy with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Apple’s in the mix too, tinkering with some super energy-efficient chip that’s all about multiple camera mojo—sounds fancy, right?
So, yeah, Meta’s retail saga is heating up. No idea where it’ll go, but it’s certainly a wild ride.
