• by Colin Kirkland , November 11, 2024

Meta has introduced its first experiential retail space dedicated to its Ray-Ban virtual reality glasses. The temporary “Meta Lab” pop-up store is open to the public in Los Angeles through the holidays to boost sales around the branded product by showcasing the product’s functionality.

The store was developed out of Meta’s initial retail showcase at its Connect conference earlier this year. According to the company, 90% of Connect attendees went through the pop-up store, were given a pair of the Ray-Ban Meta glasses “to capture photos and videos that were then downloaded and given to them to take home as a memento of their experience.”

Meta says one in four of those attendees made a purchase.

“The focus is on experiential retail -- a reinvention of the traditional shopping experience,” the company said in a statement, adding that “the entire endeavor is driven by a learning agenda to find out what works, and what doesn't, to help inform our future efforts, while also benefiting EssilorLuxottica and our third-party retail partners.”

In addition, the store will include an “immersion experience room” where visitors can capture themselves in an AI-generated version of the beach at Malibu with 17-foot bespoke-built fiberglass palm trees,” according to the project's creative director Matt Jacobson.

The LA-based holiday store will be followed by another immersive retail experience in January in Phoenix. Each in-store experience is designed to explore which form of brick-and-mortar retail will most successfully showcase its next-level Reality Labs products, including its VR headsets.

In reference to EssilorLuxottica's 17,000 stores, as well as Meta's third-party partners, Jacobson is using these retail launches as a way to test whether Meta can “build a store inside somebody else’s business.”

Meta's Los Angeles pop-up is open from now until December 31.