Aside from small businesses, Facebook's pop-up also features products from well-known brands such as The Honest Company, which was founded by actress Jessica Alba. While it may not need the exposure, Facebook says that its shop at Macy's The Market lets Honest Company pilot new household goods. The brands will be rotating every month, too, so the space won't always look the same. And those that I saw in New York may not be the same in San Antonio or Atlanta, since Facebook and Macy's are also trying to curate the space based on location.

Of course, it's easy to wonder if Facebook is just testing the waters to eventually launch its own stores, especially now that it's making a big push into hardware with products like the Portal video chat displays and Oculus Go. But that doesn't seem to be part of the company's plan, at least for the time being. "No, not at all," Michelle Klein, Facebook's director of North America marketing, told Engadget when asked if this is a sign Facebook is venturing into retail. "[It's] really just another way for us and these brands to engage and connect with people, in a time where people are connecting more around the holiday season."

Klein said there are no plans to team up with retailers beside Macy's at the moment either, noting that Facebook is mainly interested for now in learning from this experiment. "This is part of our mission," she said, "to ensure that [small businesses] have all of the opportunities that usually were only open to large businesses."