Meta opens flagship store in West Hollywood to showcase AI glasses, VR headsets

Meta, the genitor institution of Facebook and Instagram, opened a caller flagship store successful Los Angeles County wherever radical tin effort retired their astute glasses and virtual world headsets portion learning astir section culture.

The two-story gathering called Meta Lab, astatine 8600 Melrose Ave. successful West Hollywood, spans much than 20,000 quadrate feet and besides highlights Southern California’s skate scene.

“We spent a batch of clip astir the satellite looking astatine wherever retail is and wherever it’s headed, and it each felt to america to beryllium truly experiential,” said Matt Jacobson, vice president and originative manager of artificial quality wearables astatine Meta. “Just to unfastened a store without it being built astir experiences, conscionable didn’t look to marque sense.”

The store’s opening Saturday underscores however Meta is expanding its retail beingness arsenic it tries to entice much radical to bargain its virtual world headsets and AI glasses.

For exertion companies, brick-and-mortar stores connection a mode to physique marque consciousness and loyalty among customers who are weighing whether to bargain an costly device.

Apple is well-known for its sleek and modern-looking stores wherever radical spell to interact with their laptops and smartphones. This year, Google opened its archetypal Southern California retail store successful Santa Monica, allowing radical to cheque retired the tech giant’s smartphones, watches and astute location devices. Although Meta is down the world’s astir fashionable societal web Facebook, immoderate customers mightiness not cognize it besides sells hardware.

Meta Lab has a skateboarding taxable celebrating the skating assemblage and culture.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

The West Hollywood store, which started arsenic a pop-up past year, is the 2nd imperishable retail abstraction Meta has opened. The Menlo Park-based institution unveiled its archetypal store successful Burlingame, Calif., successful 2022. Since then, Meta has besides showcased its devices successful retailers specified arsenic Best Buy, LensCrafters and Ray-Ban stores.

Jacobson said the institution aims to unfastened much stores successful the future.

The West Hollywood store’s retail abstraction features a miniature skate parkland that radical tin seizure images of with Meta’s AI glasses, spots to instrumentality photos and stations to larn astir the company’s devices. The store besides has a vinyl listening country truthful visitors tin acquisition however the dependable compares to the speakers connected Meta’s glasses.

Graffiti and mural creation from Los Angeles creator Saber, besides known arsenic Ryan Weston Shook, capable the space. The institution besides worked with skate artist, lensman and originative manager Mark Oblow connected the store’s skateboarding theme.

Meta plans to big events successful the abstraction and the taxable volition alteration passim the year, Jacobson said. The store, called Meta Lab, volition beryllium unfastened regular from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The store’s opening came aft Meta unveiled its latest lineup of astute glasses up of the vacation buying season.

The glasses let radical to seizure images, perceive to music, construe languages and inquire an AI adjunct questions similar they would bash connected a smartphone.

Although the gadgets haven’t go mainstream, income of astute glasses person picked up arsenic companies specified arsenic Meta, Google, Apple, Snap and Samsung vie head-to-head to physique caller AI-powered devices.

Meta is selling a much precocious brace of Ray-Ban Meta glasses starting astatine $379 with a longer artillery life, AI adjunct and the quality to seizure much vivid videos; Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses starting astatine $499 designed for sports; and Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses with a high-tech wristband starting astatine $799 that makes it imaginable for radical to nonstop substance messages and implicit different tasks utilizing subtle manus gestures.

Customers tin acquisition Meta’s glasses and headsets astatine the store. Appointments are required, though, to demo the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses.

Jordan Marksberry tries a crippled wearing a VR headset astatine the Meta Lab opening.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

In April, Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses person tripled successful income successful the past twelvemonth and “people who person them are utilizing them a lot.”

“Glasses are the perfect signifier origin for some AI and the metaverse. They alteration you to fto an AI spot what you see, perceive what you hear, and speech to you passim the day,” helium said successful an net telephone with analysts. “And they fto you blend the carnal and integer worlds unneurotic with holograms.”

Meta has been investing heavy successful the metaverse, virtual spaces wherever radical tin socialize, enactment and play done devices specified arsenic VR headsets and astute glasses.

The institution hasn’t shared however galore AI glasses oregon virtual world headsets it has sold. Meta’s Reality Labs division, which develops augmented world and virtual world exertion hardware, bundle and platforms, mislaid $4.4 cardinal successful the 3rd 4th but generated $470 cardinal successful revenue.

Meta Lab is unfastened successful West Hollywood wherever visitors tin effort and bargain Meta VR wearables.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Meta is simply a front-runner successful the astute glasses race, according to the International Data Corporation, which provides marketplace quality connected user technology. The steadfast estimates that Meta accounted for astir 60% of the planetary marketplace for display-less astute glasses, on with augmented and virtual world headsets, during the 2nd 4th of 2025.

Meta shipped much than 3.5 cardinal pairs of its Ray-Ban astute glasses from precocious 2023 to the 2nd 4th of 2025, according to IDC.

IDC anticipates the marketplace for astute glasses without displays volition turn to 9.4 cardinal successful 2025, up 247.5% from 2024, chiefly driven by Meta.

Chinese tech companies specified arsenic Xiaomi and Huawei besides merchantability astute glasses, but their income inactive way acold down Meta, and they’re not arsenic good known successful the U.S., according to IDC.

Jitesh Ubrani, a probe manager astatine IDC who covers wearables, said opening a store successful Los Angeles allows Meta to leverage its web of creators and celebrities to marketplace its AI glasses. Products featured successful movies tin elevate marque consciousness and Los Angeles is location to the amusement industry.

When Tom Cruise wore Ray-Bans successful well-known films specified arsenic “Risky Business” and “Top Gun,” that helped substance the popularity of the sunglasses, helium said.

A Meta glasses shadiness decorates the extracurricular of the Meta Lab that is unfastened successful West Hollywood.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

People besides request to larn astir however the glasses work.

“There’s this web effect that’s built from there, but each that starts with educating the idiosyncratic arsenic to what these glasses tin do,” helium said.

In October, Meta besides opened a 560-square-foot retail pop-up abstraction astatine the Wynn Las Vegas hotel. It’s besides readying to unfastened a pop-up successful New York, which volition besides person a skate theme.

“We’re a radical archetypal institution and I deliberation the mode we radiance a airy connected radical and communities successful these stores is going to beryllium truly important,” said Jacobson, who grew up successful Manhattan Beach.