NFT gets physical with the world’s first real store opened in Dubai
NFT gets physical with the world’s first real store opened in Dubai
ftNFT retail stores offer experiences at the intersection of digital and real-life art.
Fastex’s ftNFT retail store utilizes a wide array of physical means to experience NFTs, even for non-crypto visitors, adding a new dimension to people’s interaction with the digital world. Aside from putting popular NFTs from the ftNFT Marketplace on display, the brick-and-mortar stores host an “avatar booth” equipped with a 3D scanner.
Visitors can enter the cabin to quickly create personalized 3D replicas of themselves that can be used as avatars in virtual worlds and Fastex’s very own FastexVerse, enabling a more profound experience in the Metaverse.
The launch of physical NFT stores in a thriving region with over 130 million annual visitors only contributes to the more extensive goal of raising awareness for NFTs, Fastex explains. However, boosting mainstream adoption requires more than turning physical efforts into digital goods — it needs a two-way interaction between the physical and digital worlds. That’s why ftNFT reserved a significant part of its physical store for digital-to-physical items.
Visitors can simply print their favorite NFTs onto T-shirts, mugs, or posters —basically creating their own merchandise without leaving the store. As with YouTubers, Twitch gamers, TikTokers, or any influencer who launched their brand in the digital world, NFT creators now have the chance to expand their presence into the real world by printing their digital art into different forms of merchandise.
Aside from the physical counterparts of popular NFT collections, visitors of the ftBFT shops can also see impressive physical artworks like the eye-shaped sculptures from the AKNEYE series.
Despite the multitude of layers added to the basic premise of NFTs, Fastex’s physical stores are leaning more towards educating people and growing the adoption of NFTs than simply selling goods.
This is the reason why the shop is designed to resemble museum exhibits rather than everyday retail stores. From the DJ at the entrance to the avatar booth, ftNFT shops aim to entice non-crypto people inside with the hope of demonstrating the positive impact of NFTs to both the digital and physical worlds first-hand.