Besides which, the military is historically a leader in tech that sometimes makes its way back to the civilian world. Notably, the internet was originally ARPANET, funded by the DoD, and the TCP/IP protocol was designed with military considerations in mind (e.g. designing a protocol that would be resilient to failures in parts of the network).

A company that secures a steady contract delivering AR equipment to the military will then have the runway to polish the packaging until it's palatable for consumers.

I want product reviews as I look at items on shelves in stores, without holding my phone in front of my face the whole time.

Many people already more or less have that: Amazon.com, at home on their couch.

I wonder whether there still will be stores selling things you want to spend time to choose between options by the time that tech exists.