Several months ago, Snapchat launched its lens filter store. While lenses aren’t new to Snapchat, the store basically added paid options for users who want a little bit more variety. Unfortunately it seems like Snapchat has decided to put an end to the store and have announced that they will be shutting it down.
Oddly enough the reason for shuttering the business is not because the store wasn’t doing well. In fact according to a report from Business Insider, as many as tens of thousands of lenses were sold on a daily basis, easily netting Snapchat hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue just from the lenses itself on a monthly basis.
So why close the store? According to the company, apparently they decided that they need to focus on their advertising business instead. If the store had been doing badly, we’d understand if Snapchat wanted to refocus their efforts, but this seemed like a money-maker so it is an odd decision, but one that has been made anyway.
According to Snapchat, “This Friday (1/8/16) we will be closing the Lens Store. You can purchase Lenses that you’d like to use again and again before Friday at 12:01AM PT. You will be able to use the Lenses you have purchased after the Lens Store closes, and the ones available for free every day!” So if you’d like to do some last minute purchases before the lenses are gone for good, now’s your chance.