Meta opens 20,000-sq-ft AI glasses store in West Hollywood

Meta has opened a flagship store in West Hollywood called Meta Lab, a 20,000-square-foot experiential retail space designed to showcase its AI glasses and VR headsets. The store’s launch underscores Meta’s push to expand its retail presence and drive adoption of its hardware products, particularly as competition intensifies in the smart glasses market where Meta currently holds about 60% of the global market share.

What you should know: The Meta Lab store at 8600 Melrose Ave. features interactive experiences centered around Southern California’s skate culture, including a miniature skate park for testing AI glasses.
• The two-story space includes spots for capturing images with Meta’s AI glasses, photo stations, and a vinyl listening room to demonstrate the audio quality of Meta’s glasses speakers.
• Appointments are required to demo the premium Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses, while other products can be tested without reservations.
• The store operates daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., with themes that will rotate throughout the year.

The big picture: Meta is following the retail playbook established by Apple and Google, using brick-and-mortar stores to build brand awareness and help customers understand expensive hardware products before purchasing.
• This is Meta’s second permanent retail location after opening its first store in Burlingame, California, in 2022.
• The company also operates pop-up locations in Las Vegas and plans to open another in New York, while partnering with retailers like Best Buy, LensCrafters, and Ray-Ban stores.

Product lineup: Meta unveiled its latest smart glasses ahead of the holiday shopping season, offering three distinct models for different use cases.
• Ray-Ban Meta glasses start at $379 with longer battery life, AI assistant capabilities, and improved video capture.
• Oakley Meta Vanguard glasses begin at $499 and are designed specifically for sports activities.
• Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses start at $799 and include a high-tech wristband that enables text messaging and other tasks through subtle hand gestures.

Market performance: Meta has established itself as the dominant player in the smart glasses market, with sales momentum building significantly.
• The company shipped more than 3.5 million pairs of Ray-Ban smart glasses from late 2023 to the second quarter of 2025, according to IDC, a market research firm.
• Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses have tripled in sales over the past year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced during the company’s earnings call.
• IDC projects the display-less smart glasses market will grow to 9.4 million units in 2025, up 247.5% from 2024, driven primarily by Meta.

What they’re saying: Meta executives emphasize the experiential nature of their retail strategy and the potential of glasses as an AI platform.
• “We spent a lot of time around the world looking at where retail is and where it’s headed, and it all felt to us to be really experiential,” said Matt Jacobson, Meta’s vice president and creative director of AI wearables.
• “Glasses are the ideal form factor for both AI and the metaverse. They enable you to let an AI see what you see, hear what you hear, and talk to you throughout the day,” Zuckerberg explained during the earnings call.

Financial context: Meta’s Reality Labs division, which develops AR and VR technology, lost $4.4 billion in the third quarter but generated $470 million in revenue.
• The company hasn’t disclosed specific sales figures for its AI glasses or VR headsets.
• Industry analyst Jitesh Ubrani noted that opening in Los Angeles allows Meta to leverage its network of creators and celebrities for marketing, similar to how Tom Cruise’s Ray-Ban appearances in films like “Risky Business” and “Top Gun” boosted the sunglasses brand.