Meta Plans to Expand Retail Locations Amid Growing Smart Glasses Competition

Meta’s been kind of dancing around the idea of retail for what feels like forever, right? Anyway, so there’s this buzz—thanks to Business Insider—that they’re finally gearing up to go big with physical stores, not just those one-off pop-ups or whatever they did before.

They’re thinking of hiring folks for these stores, like staffing up big time. Picture Apple’s sleek spots—maybe that’s what they’re aiming for? Who knows. The insiders say it’s all hush-hush for now, which is classic corporate mystery.

Remember Meta’s little L.A. pop-up last year? Yeah, it was all over the news, like a mini sensation. But they’ve been on this pop-up ride since, what, 2016? Teaming up with places like Best Buy, letting folks mess around with their XR headsets. Fun times.

So, the big jewel in Meta’s retail crown might just be these snazzy Ray-Ban glasses. They’ve sold over a million of these things in 2024 alone. Can you imagine? Zuckerberg probably threw a party, called it a “great start” or something.

Even EssilorLuxottica’s big boss, Milleri, plans to pump out 10 million pairs annually by 2026. These glasses do everything—photos, video, this Meta AI thing, plus music. And they come in all kinds of styles. It’s like a fashion and tech mash-up.

Oh, and Bloomberg’s spinning tales about more of these smart glasses on the horizon, including ones from Oakley with, like, built-in displays. Pretty wild, right?

Google’s in this game too, teaming up with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. They’ve got plans for Android XR Glasses, whatever those end up being.

And, get this—Apple’s rumored to be cooking up something similar. They’re working on a chip for smart glasses, borrowing tech from their Apple Watches. So, everyone wants a piece of this pie, it seems.

What a time to be alive, huh?