I visited Meta’s NYC pop-up. It felt like a mix of an Apple store and Warby Parker, with no expense spared.
This week, I had the opportunity to explore the newly opened Meta Lab pop-up in New York City, a venture that marks Meta’s strategic shift toward in-person retail. Nestled on Fifth Avenue, an area renowned for its luxury shopping, the pop-up stands as a testament to Meta’s ambitions beyond the digital realm, showcasing its latest innovations in AI glasses and virtual reality technology. The design of the space is both inviting and modern, featuring a skateboard-themed aesthetic that resonates with the vibrant culture of New York. Upon entering, visitors are greeted by a wall adorned with AI glasses from collaborations with Ray-Ban and Oakley, available for purchase alongside the more advanced Meta Ray-Ban Displays, which require appointments for demos.
Despite the pop-up’s sleek design and engaging layout, my visit revealed a quieter atmosphere than expected, with more Meta staff present than customers at 11:30 a.m. on a weekday. However, the staff was enthusiastic and eager to demonstrate the technology, guiding me through the features of the second-generation Meta Ray-Bans, which include music playback, photography, and adaptive lenses that adjust to lighting conditions. The highlight of my visit was testing the Meta Ray-Ban Display, which integrates a discreet screen into the lenses. The demo showcased its potential for navigation and live transcription, hinting at a future where such technology could seamlessly blend into daily life. While I found the tech impressive, I hesitated at the $799 price tag, feeling that the current capabilities didn’t fully justify the investment.
The upstairs area of the Meta Lab further enhances the customer experience with a custom engraving bar and a café offering local treats, underscoring Meta’s commitment to creating a community-oriented retail environment. The pop-up also features interactive elements, such as AI-generated sticker creation, allowing visitors to engage with the technology in fun and personalized ways. The overall experience felt like a blend of an Apple Store and a trendy sunglasses boutique, with an emphasis on customer interaction and innovation. As I left the Meta Lab, I felt a renewed sense of optimism about Meta’s future in hardware and retail, eager to see how this venture evolves and whether it will pave the way for a more permanent presence in the retail landscape.
My trip to the Meta Lab pop-up included a Meta Ray-Ban Meta Display demo.
Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider
I visited the New York Meta Lab pop-up. It got me excited for the future of Meta’s
in-person retail
.
The pop-up was artfully designed and loaded with different use cases for the company’s AI glasses, which you can demo.
Meta staff dwarfed the number of customers, but it may have been a quiet period at 11:30 a.m. on a weekday.
For years, Meta has built its businesses online. Now, it’s also expanding to
brick-and-mortar
— including a new two-story location in NYC that I visited this week.
As it continues to launch new gadgets, including its popular Ray-Ban and Oakley AI glasses and VR headsets, Meta is accelerating its in-person pop-ups. In 2022, Meta opened its
store
in Burlingame, California, near the company’s Reality Labs campus. Pop-ups expanded to Los Angeles in 2024 and Las Vegas in October 2025. The recently opened pop-up in New York is smack in the middle of 5th Avenue’s shopping hub.
In-person retail could send new customers to Reality Labs products. Meta’s AI glasses and VR headsets have been available at major retailers for some time, but the Meta Labs pop-ups are the company’s first stand-alone glasses stores.
Are these pop-ups the future of Meta’s retail presence? I visited the New York location to find out.
Meta Lab was in the luxury shopping district on 5th Avenue.
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Meta Lab is a small, blue building on Fifth Ave. The pop-up is around the corner from the St. Regis hotel, and two blocks from the
Louis Vuitton flagship
. Next door is the jewelry boutique Harry Winston.
The area is ripe for foot traffic.
The pop-up “highlights and fosters community.”
Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider
On the door, Meta Lab gives its mission statement. The four paragraphs were also at the base of the elevator bank inside.
“We endeavor to set the standard for conceptual retail in tech by celebrating customization and self-expression,” it read. “We hope the experiences will continue to delight and bring you back time and time again.”
The first floor was filled with AI glasses.
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Upon entering, Meta Lab resembled a
Warby Parker
(funnily enough, Warby Parker partnered with Google for
its rival AI glasses bet
.)
The walls were lined with AI glasses from collaborations with both Oakley and Ray-Ban. These glasses were available for purchase, while the Meta Ray-Ban Displays required an appointment to buy.
One of Meta’s retail innovations: ping pong paddle mirrors.
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There were mirrors all around the Meta Lab, and I caught more than one customer taking a mirror selfie. They were also used for glasses demos (say: “Hey Meta, take a picture”).
On the glasses counters, Meta replaced the traditional rubber on a ping pong paddle with a mirror for handheld use.
The pop-up’s design was skate-themed.
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After exploring the wall of glasses, I turned to the other side, which was filled with skateboard-themed art. The collection was made in collaboration with Zoo York. It offered viewers an opportunity to “travel through the timeline of New York skate culture,” per a sign.
Around this time, I noticed how quiet the Meta Lab was. At 11:30 a.m. on a Wednesday, it likely wasn’t peak hours. However, on this base floor, there seemed to be twice as many staff members as customers.
A Meta representative wrote over email that “foot traffic numbers have exceeded expectations across all stores.”
Time for a demo!
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The Meta Lab is built for AI glasses demos. There are signs scattered around the shop suggesting prompts to ask your glasses. Naturally, I signed up.
A trusty Meta Lab employee pulled me aside and started with my first demo: the second-generation
Meta Ray-Bans
.
“Hey Meta, take a picture.”
Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider
My Meta Lab guide walked me through all of the features. He showed me how to play music, how to ask Meta AI for information, or how to take a picture. Thus, this mirror selfie.
He also showed me how the Ray-Bans have transition lenses based on the time of day and brightness. Using a flashlight, he darkened one of the lenses. That, dear reader, is why it looks like I’m wearing an eyepatch.
My second demo: The higher-tech Meta Ray-Ban Display
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Going upstairs, I asked to demo the Meta Ray-Ban Display, which, as their name suggests, includes an integrated screen in the glasses lens. (I was still jealous of my colleague, Peter Kafka, who got to try them out
in September
.) My Meta Lab guide sized a “neural band” for me and walked me through its features.
The glasses are controlled through a series of small hand motions. Users tap their index finger to select, or their middle finger to go back. To swipe, they move their thumb back and forth on their index finger, similar to a joystick.
It took some time to get used to. Eventually, I felt like a pro.
The Display lived up to the hype.
Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider
My
Meta Ray-Ban Display
demo was fascinating.
The Maps feature seemed helpful, as did the search function. The quality of the live transcription was more varied. But, above all, I was awed by the tech. The integrated screen was discreet, and I could see future use cases. Yes, I would love to watch Netflix on the subway without having to look down at my phone. Meta just needs to get there.
One fun moment: Walking me through the search functions, my Meta Lab guide asked me to pick a question of my own. I asked, “Who is the CEO of Meta?” The Displays brought up an older pick of Mark Zuckerberg, before he became the
broccoli-haired Buff Zuck
. I told my guide; he laughed.
Am I going to pay $799 for a pair of Displays? No. The tech is a bit too early for me, and I’m not sure the screen justifies itself just yet. (I’m more likely to buy the simpler AI Ray-Bans; I liked the music and photo options.) However, it was a promising sign of what’s to come in wearable technology.
Let’s tour the upstairs!
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Having finished both of my demos, it was time to tour the upstairs of the pop-up.
First up: the custom engraving bar. With printers in the back, customers could request custom cases for their glasses or get the New York-only specialty case.
Next to it was a café area, where customers could request coffee from Buddies in Williamsburg or massive black-and-white cookies.
This is also when I started realizing how much money Meta likely spent. From multiple art collections to food and case engravings — let alone the prime New York real estate — Meta spared no expense.
Spotted: the Meta Quest headsets.
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The Meta Lab was almost entirely devoted to AI glasses. They covered the walls, both upstairs and downstairs, and the art was designed for use with the glasses.
But, tucked into a nook near the register, customers could find another Meta hardware bet:
Meta Quest
VR headsets.
Some of the glasses were hooked up to demo tablets.
Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider
In many ways, the Meta Lab felt like a hybrid of an
Apple Store
and a Sunglass Hut. Some of the glasses were connected to tablets for a demonstration, which was helpful when human Meta workers weren’t available to assist.
Except, Meta employees were everywhere. With only a few customers browsing the pop-up, many staffers were chatting among themselves. There was even a Meta elevator attendant whose job was to press 1 or 2.
It’s possible the Meta Lab was more overstaffed than under-trafficked.
One Meta AI use: creating custom stickers.
Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider
Part of the Meta Lab’s goal is to show customers new and exciting use cases for the company’s AI, beyond generating recipes and email drafts.
Using Meta AI’s image generator, the “Sticker Slam” offers customers the chance to create their own AI-generated images. I asked for my dog, Charlotte, with angel wings and a tiara. The machine nailed it.
Evan Mock designed much of the top floor.
Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider
Keeping with the skate theme, actor and skateboarder
Evan Mock
designed much of the top floor. The colors were all neon, and there were name plates plastered around a map of New York with Mock’s memorable spots.
The display featured some print magazines in which Mock was featured on the cover. This wasn’t the Lab’s first reference to magazines. Downstairs, one of the Meta AI prompts asked the glasses where to buy skateboarding magazines.
I spotted a copy of
V Magazine
, one of my first jobs in journalism. Print media isn’t dead!
Leaving the Lab, I felt hopeful for Meta’s hardware effort.
Henry Chandonnet/Business Insider
I prepared to leave the Lab, but not before marveling at the subtle Meta logo carved into the pop-up’s high wooden arch.
It led me to wonder: Could part of the Lab’s relative slowness during my visit have to do with the pop-up’s “Meta Lab” branding? American shoppers could certainly recognize the company’s mega-popular products, such as the classic
blue Facebook logo
or the rainbow Instagram camera. But how many could point out the Meta logo?
Indeed, the name Meta itself is
still relatively fresh
, dating back to 2021. Maybe a “Facebook Lab” would drive more foot traffic.
Regardless, the Meta Lab left me excited. The demos were thrilling, and the design was inventive. Meta seems happy with it, too. The Meta representative told me that the pop-up will be open for the “next few months,” but that they are hoping to make it “a more permanent location.”
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