I visited Meta’s NYC pop-up. It felt like a mix of an Apple store and Warby Parker, with no expense spared.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.”