Meta Plans to Expand Retail Locations Amid Growing Smart Glasses Competition

Oh boy, Meta’s at it again. I mean, they’ve been dabbling in this whole retail gig for, like, forever, right? But guess what? Business Insider says they’re finally going big or going home. Like, moving past their one lonely store somewhere—you know, that real store, not just one of those pop-up gigs.

I’m talking about Meta hiring real people (yeah, humans) for actual retail roles! It sounds kinda like they’re dreaming of being the next Apple, with those sleek stores everyone loves. But shhh, it’s still hush-hush and all that jazz, like top-secret internal memo stuff. Funny, considering how many pop-ups they’ve already thrown since, what, 2016? Popping up like daisies in spring. Los Angeles got a pop-up just last year, which everyone seemed to buzz about. Oh, and remember their collab with Best Buy? If not, it’s no biggie—they were setting up demo spots for their XR headsets.

Now, back to the only real Meta store—yeah, singular. It’s in Burlingame, California, chilling next to their Reality Labs campus. They showcase things like the Quest 3 and some fancy Ray-Ban glasses. Speaking of which, those glasses are kind of their golden child now. Sold over a million pairs in 2024! No joke. Even the big wigs at EssilorLuxottica (the folks making them) say they’re cranking up numbers to reach, wait for it, 10 million by the end of 2026. That’s a lot of specs.

And those glasses? They’ve got cameras (I mean, bloody cameras!), some Meta AI thingy, and speakers that don’t need to sit on your ears. They’re in all sorts of styles, which is neat, though I bet they’ll just keep multiplying like rabbits.

Oh, almost forgot! Word on the street (thanks, Bloomberg) is they’re cooking up more smart glasses. Some even with displays and from Oakley, which might appeal to the sporty types. And everybody’s jumping in. Google showed off theirs, teaming up with Warby Parker, and I swear Apple’s poking around too. They’re messing with chips for glasses now, like tiny, power-savvy ones that can juggle loads of cameras.

Crazy times, huh? Smart glasses everywhere.