Meta, the social media company formerly known as Facebook, has discussed opening retail stores that will eventually span the world, The New York Times reported. According to the report, the stores would be used to introduce people to devices made by the company's Reality Labs division, such as virtual reality headsets and, eventually, augmented reality glasses.

These devices are gateways to the metaverse, a futuristic digital world where people move from virtual to augmented versions of reality almost seamlessly, the report said. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week renamed his company Meta and laid out a vision for pursuing the metaverse as the next social platform.