Lakeshore

The Lakeshore Story… Humble Beginnings

It all started with one person taking a chance. In 1954, Ethelyn Kaplan, a single mother, defied the conventions of 1950s America—packing up her family and heading west to realize her dream of opening a toy store. After she set up shop in Northern California, educators soon began calling her for supplies, and Ethelyn discovered a higher purpose—serving teachers. Two generations later, Lakeshore still remains true to Ethelyn’s founding principles of listening to customers and meeting their needs.

Lakeshore has been developing innovative products since 1988. Their developers take Lakeshore products from ideas to realities—from first sketches and 3-D simulations to rigorous testing and classroom use. To ensure quality and safety, every product they carry undergoes an average of more than one hundred hours of development and testing before it reaches the customers.