Best Buy to close almost half of its in-store Facebook VR stations

Facebook is scaling back its first big brick-and-mortar retail push.



The social media giant is closing approximately 200 of its 500 Oculus virtual reality (VR) pop-up stores operating in Best Buy locations across the United States, Business Insider said.



Facebook launched the program in 48 stores last May, and the technology — which was available for demonstrations and sales — was rolled out to 500 stores in August, Engadget said.



Sources differ on the reason for the closures. Pop-up employees told Business Insider that some kiosks would "go days without giving a single demonstration.” However, Oculus spokeswoman Andrea Schubert disagrees.



"We're making some seasonal changes and prioritizing demos at hundreds of Best Buy locations in larger markets," Schubert told Business Insider. "You can still request [Rift] demos at hundreds of Best Buy stores in the U.S. and Canada.”



Facebook purchased Oculus in 2014. CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the move believing that virtual reality was evolving to be the next major, game-changing computing platform.



While retailers such as Sam’s Club and Walgreens, among other brands, are dabbling with dif-ferent VR applications, the disruptor has yet to break into the mainstream like mobile phones, Business Insider added.



Facebook’s first big push into physical retail may not have played out as expected, but the social media giant may create its own permanent storefronts to sell and demo VR. Discussions around this initiative are still in the early stages, Business Insider reported.