Ray-Ban Meta frames produced by EssilorLuxottica are among the fastest to sell out of any pair of frames at National Vision, the parent company of America's Best and Eyeglass World, according to CEO Alex Wilkes. National Vision, which operates about 1,270 retail locations in 40 states and serves close to 7 million optometry patients annually, first piloted Ray-Ban Meta glasses last year and quickly scaled to more than 100 stores. The retailer allows customers to apply insurance benefits and purchase prescription lenses alongside the frames.
Consumers adopting Meta glasses are not necessarily AI power users—many are drawn to basic use cases like recording remote-controlled cars, translating menus, or identifying flowers. Critically for retailers, glasses buyers also purchase the most premium lenses available, such as Transitions lenses, maximizing their insurance benefits. Over the 12 months ending May, revenue in the smart glasses category grew 233% to $436 million, and EssilorLuxottica reported selling over 7 million AI glasses in 2025.
Best Buy has opened experiential spaces in over 50 stores nationwide and is positioning AI glasses as a key growth category to reignite consumer electronics sales as smartphone growth slows. Samsung and Snap have announced new glasses models, and analysts expect Apple and Amazon to follow, signaling that smart glasses will become a sustained category for consumer electronics and optical retailers.