Meta opened its first New York City flagship store on Fifth Avenue, planting the social-media and AI-hardware company on one of the most expensive retail corridors in the world. The store, called Meta Lab, opened March 18, 2026, in a five-story townhouse at 697 Fifth Avenue, adjacent to the St. Regis Hotel.

The deal

Meta signed a 10-year lease with landlord Vornado Realty Trust to occupy the entire roughly 15,000-square-foot building, Vornado announced. The publicly traded New York real-estate trust, one of the largest owners of Manhattan office and retail space, framed the deal as a marquee win for the Fifth Avenue shopping district.

For Meta, the store is its first flagship in Manhattan and its East Coast flagship, following a Meta Lab location in the Los Angeles area. The company has been expanding into physical retail to give consumers hands-on contact with hardware that is difficult to sell online.

What’s inside

Meta Lab is built as an experiential space rather than a conventional store. Across its five levels, the store showcases Meta’s wearable and immersive technology — its AI glasses and virtual-reality headsets among them — with demos designed to let visitors try the devices.

The company has described the format as oriented around community and culture, with each location keyed to a local theme. Coverage of the New York store noted a focus on the city’s skate and countercultural energy, blending product demos with art and history rather than presenting a standard sales floor.

The bet is that hardware like camera-equipped AI glasses sells better when people can put it on. As Meta pushes wearables and mixed-reality devices as the next consumer computing platform, a physical showroom on Fifth Avenue functions as both a store and a marketing statement.

A vote for Fifth Avenue retail

The lease lands at a moment when Manhattan’s premier retail corridors have been regaining momentum after pandemic-era vacancies, with luxury and flagship tenants returning to Fifth Avenue and other prime strips. Meta’s arrival adds a marquee technology name to a corridor long dominated by luxury fashion and jewelry houses.

It also follows other high-profile flagship activity in the city: outdoor brand The North Face opened a two-story, 21,000-square-foot Manhattan flagship in late 2025 featuring a wraparound LED screen. Together, the openings signal that big brands still see a Manhattan flagship as worth the rent — both for sales and for the visibility that comes with a Fifth Avenue address.

For Vornado, filling an entire Fifth Avenue building on a decade-long lease to a tenant of Meta’s scale is the kind of deal that anchors the value of a prime retail block. For the city, it is another sign that the marquee shopping districts that draw tourists and shoppers are filling back up.

Verification

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Meta Lab store and when did it open?
Meta Lab opened March 18, 2026, at 697 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, adjacent to the St. Regis Hotel. It occupies the entire five-story, roughly 15,000-square-foot townhouse.
Who owns the building Meta leased?
The landlord is Vornado Realty Trust, which announced the deal. Meta signed a 10-year lease for the property.
What does the store sell?
Meta Lab is an experiential showcase for Meta's wearable and immersive hardware, including its AI glasses and virtual-reality headsets, with hands-on demos. It is designed around community and culture rather than as a conventional point-of-sale shop.
Is this Meta's first physical store?
It is Meta's first flagship in New York City and its East Coast flagship, following an earlier flagship in the Los Angeles area. It marks an expansion of the company's push into brick-and-mortar retail.