Aboutus

The Teachers Center has been a resource to teachers and parents for over thirty-five years fulfilling our mission statement of providing quality, ambiance and service to our customers every step of the way.

Our eleven thousand square foot store is home to thousands of educational materials for home and school. Our unique blend of products is very popular with our customers. Teachers, parents, home schooling families, and grandparents are among the many who have "discovered the Teachers Center."

We carry all of the traditional teacher related products such as bulletin board sets, trimmers and other decorative materials, posters, desk plates, nametags, calendar cut-outs, stickers, teacher resource books and so much more from some of your favorite educational supply companies like Carson-Dellosa®, Creative Teaching Press®, TREND® and Learning Resources®.

We also have unique educational products for all ages from birth to teens including toys, games and puzzles, collectibles, dolls, horses, plush, musical instruments, children’s picture, chapter books up to young adult, and nonfiction reference books, puppets, science materials and science kits, art supplies and craft kits and more from the most popular companies like Playmobil®, Corolle®, Breyer®, TY®, Alex®, Melissa & Doug®, and Schleich® to name just a few.

For those who have discovered the Teachers Center, they find quality specialty items not found in other stores. In 1976, the Teachers Center took over a store called the Aardvark, a small nine hundred foot building on Della Street in Portage. Some of our customers may remember "the little red schoolhouse." The teachers in the area were enthusiastic about being able to purchase educational materials locally. The store was only open from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. allowing the owners, who were also full-time teachers in the area, to run the store in the evening.

In 1982 the store was physically expanded by purchasing the building next door. This building was torn down and we built a two thousand square foot store. The product lines were increased from twenty-five to over one hundred.

In 1985 educational toys were introduced and at this time the business was known as the Teachers Center/ Learning Depot, encouraging parents to also shop at the store. At this time the number of staff increased and the store was able to be open for longer hours; 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and weekend hours were expanded.

In 1992 there was an addition added to the building on Della Street. The new addition increased the size to a five thousand square foot store. More company lines were added and the staffing continued to grow. At this time, we also began to offer special events and workshops for the customers. However, it wasn't long before we realized that we had outgrown the space on Della Street.

In the spring of 1999 we made the move into our current building on Constitution Blvd. just blocks from the "old" store. This building offers over eleven thousand square feet which includes a room we use for workshops, meetings, author visits, children's programs and other special promotions. Each year more and more lines are added. The Teacher Center has a reputation for offering the best educational products for home or school in southwest Michigan.