This is the perfect store to buy toys, gifts for kids, or teacher school supplies! So thankful we have a Lakeshore Learning store here! The toys from here last forever - they're meant to since most of these are used in classrooms/schools. Quality and long-lasting toys mean that you can give them away to family members or friends later, and they'll still be of great quality! As a tutor, this is an excellent store to buy quality teaching supplies (laminator, cardboard paper, glue sticks, gems, etc.). On some weekends, they offer fun/free arts & crafts activities for kids - keep an eye out for the store flyer or texts/emails for these events. They always have sample toy sets out for kids to play with or try out before buying - perfect to keep their little hands busy while parents/teachers shop! They have lots of sales or coupons throughout the year as well. The staff is so kind and helpful - shoutout to the team for their continuous quick assistance and support! Parking lot is small, but we never have trouble finding parking. read more

Lakeshore Learning Store is my go-to for fun, quality, educational toys for my friends' kids. The prices are generally fair and they have quite a bit of sales that go on. The workers are always friendly and very helpful when I visit. Note: The parking lot is a bit tiny, but I've never had trouble finding parking. read more

Seriously, why is this store so expensive? 1) yes! They have fun learning tools 2) yes! They sometimes throw fun kids events 3) yes! I'd love to buy and play with everything in the store 4) No! I'm not going to spend $60 on a set of building blocks just because they're soft! Seriously, why do blocks need to be soft? What are they made out of? Gold!!!??? 5) yes, my kids love the snap and design monster trucks, but they play with them just as often as they play with the cheap ones from the dollar store. 6) $50 for a set of soft rubber dinosaurs that come in a lunch box? $5 for comparable items at the dollar store 7) $50 for a chair pad that sits on the floor? My kids rip the chair pads off our bar stools and can sit on the floor for free. PSA: Try to think critically before spending your money. That is all. read more

Lakeshore Learning Store - Holiday add 2019 - Toy Stores Near Me - Walnut Creek, California

This is a place where I shop for my son educational toys. The price is a bit high but you get what you pay for..I guess?? Coming here doesn't me feel guilty spending money for his toys LOL! By the way, I love that they send you a text for a discount. read more

In being a private tutor, for over a decade, aside from my regular job, I have come here periodically over the years. This is a STELLAR place for any teacher, tutor, or parent, needing to find materials for their students, or children, of any academic level, and subject. This has been my "go-to" for workbooks, activities, etc. Doesn't matter if a student is a Kindergartner, a 3rd grader, an 8th grader, or a Sophomore in high school -- this place "HAS THE GOODS!" I recently came in a few days ago as I needed multiplication, and division, flashcards for a new student. The employees inside had their masks on, as did those of us patronizing the business, and I really had a WONDERFUL experience, thanks to Bernard who was working there! Additionally, the space was well organized with all the products available, and on display, a sale was going on (helpful as materials can be expensive), extremely well lit and there was a sense of cleanliness -- ALL made me feel good, as always, for when I've been here in the past. Bernard asked if I needed help and what I was in search for. Long story short, he showed me items I hadn't even thought of needing, but also, when it came to paying, he helped me get a discount and even gave me a reusable tote! Really REFRESHING to be in the presence of someone who ACTUALLY WANTS to help a client, and make a customer have a positive experience, especially during these times! Bernard represented Lakeshore Learning EXTREMELY well and this business is lucky to have him -- HONESTLY! Thank you, Bernard! read more

See all

I could go crazy in the store buying way too much stuff and I don't even have kids. I came here to buy gifts for my nieces and nephews and this is the spot to get fun, educational gifts for kids. You really can't go wrong with anything in here. All the items are labeled for the appropriate age range too. The store is really well organized and clean. The staff were very friendly and helpful. Overall, this is an amazing store and I will be back. read more

This is a lovely, educational and fun store. I was helped the moment I walked in, Maurissa helped me locate age-appropriate, learning toys for my grandson. There are many, many choices and all of the staff are informed and helpful. *Highly recommend.* read more

See all

This place has the best toys, hands down! We get most our bday and Christmas gifts for the kids here. The staff are particularly helpful, friendly, and kind. The store is neat and organized. read more

Thank you Lakeshore for having so much resources for education needs. The products can be pricey but I don't mind spending a little more towards educational products! Such great quality!! this place is really organized and clean, i love how everything is easy to find. I went here for some sensory supplies and ended up buying more cool stuff for learning. read more

Best teaching supplies and learning tools. So many choices and ideas. Everything in the store makes learning fun!

My first thought as I walked through the aisles was "This place kicks ass!". I was in aw, wonder, and amazement. I wanted to run my finger over every little bell, whistle and wind-up toy. The goal for me coming here was to find new toys to bring in the airplane with us on our way to and from Hawaii. With a one year old, a five hour flight in cramped conditions sounds like a nightmare on every level. I needed them small enough to fit in the diaper bag and carry on. Yet interesting enough to possibly hold his attention for longer than five minutes. If you're a compulsive shopper especially when it comes to your own kids, don't come here. Stay far, far away. They have everything! Musical instruments, crafts of every kind, learning books, farm animals, just think it and it's there. Every type of kitchen food item you could ever dream of. I stood and played with the ice cream scooper that magnetized to what looked like real scoops of ice cream, until an employee came up and asked me if I needed help. Not only did I find plenty of gadgets for the lil guy but I also bought my dearest friends kid a life like looking pizza. It comes with a pizza slicer and the slices of pizza are held together with Velcro. As you slice between the slices it makes a cutting sound. It's really cool. It's my special gift because one night my wiener dog ate his slice of pizza off the table. Now he can play pizza without the dog eating it. They have FREE story times during the week that I wish I could attend. Maybe I'll take an early lunch and go to one with the lil guy. I absolutely adore this store and would have never given it a second glance until I had my son. They have a customer for life. read more

Sesame Street made a big point starting in the late 1960s: Learning can be fun. And Lakeshore Learning carries on that point. The Walnut Creek store has a lot of things for kids to have fun with, and the kids will have fun with them. Wannabe toys ("I wannabe a policeman, I wannabe a teacher . . . "). CDs of kids music from around the world. Letters to help them learn to read. Crafts, crafts, crafts. If you can think of it, chances are it's here. And no Barbies. Who needs her anyway? (okay, I'm a guy.) One star up for great selection. Two stars down for: It's expensive here, and most parents I know are on a strict budget even if the country wasn't in a politician-induced Depression. And parking is terrible, a small lot that fills quickly so you're reduced to on-street metered parking. Well, it *is* on the outskirts of downtown Walnut Creek, which seeks to be the East Bay's version of Palo Alto, and that explains both down-stars. But they do have craft times for kids, every Saturday afternoon, and it's all FREE. The store people are great with the crafts, the kids make new friends, and you end up with something to hang on the refrigerator. My girl made a laminated placemat for Thanksgiving, and we're still using it for dinnertime. A good place to window-shop, to get ideas, and if you forego a month's worth of Starbucks, maybe even buy something for your little ones. read more

Learning store? Exfoliating scrub kit for 8-year-olds? Beginning science kits with nothing more than colored tablets and gel powder for over $25.00? An entire "Time Management" section for little children? Never before have I seen more pre-digested cheap Chinese plastic junk guaranteed to make your children rigid and incurious. Never before have I seen more inarticulate and equally incurious people staffing such a store supposedly targeted towards learning. I pity our young people. Thank heavens Five Little Monkeys is a 5-minute drive away. read more

Super helpful staff and lots of great educational/crafty items for young children. Purchased lots of gifts!

This is a very small lakeshore learning store. You can't move around in a cart. But for how small it is, it's very organized and the employees are very willing to help. They come up to you and ask what they can do for you. I would usually find that annoying, but in a small store that's hard to navigate it, it's nice for them to do that. Lakeshore always has good deals so definitely sign up for their teachers saving club! read more

I had to go here for a random work-related errand and was pleasantly surprised. They really have a wide variety of items - ranging from the standard teacher supplies to educational toys for kids to basic art supplies. I have to give kudos to the clerk who checked me out - I was in a particularly clumsy mode that day and dumped all of my change on the counter, plus my cell phone was ringing and there was a line. I appreciated his patience with me. In short, this place is great if you're looking for what they sell. I'd say they are the best place in the area for learning related supplies, and highly recommend this place for teachers, moms, and anybody who works with children on a regular basis. read more

Lakeshore Learning Store - Toy Stores Near Me - Walnut Creek, California

The people that are working at this store are very knowledgeable about the products they are selling. They take the time with each customer to find out what exactly they could want and they even suggested items that could also work with what I was currently looking at. When I was trying to figure out how to use the laminator Bernard showed up and helped me use it. The customer service and product at this store cannot be matched! It is worth every penny; both the store experience and the amazing gifts for my nieces and nephews. read more

My last review was flagged and removed by the store management, thank God for the "unbiased" Yelp review system. I was in the store today and had an extremely negative experience with the manager (the nice woman helping me at the register was great though). The manager was incredibly rude to me and upset my 1 yo son with her aggressive tone and passive aggressively obstinate behavior. We needed to return a duplicate toy from my son's birthday party. We were unable to find anything I would allow in my house because everything here is brightly colored plastic, designed to distract your child, not teach them anything. In my opinion, this store is full of garbage. I hope this store goes out of business read more

The store is a great concept but it feels really disorganized for a premium priced store. The flow of the store doesn't feel really well thought out and it feels like they're just cramming merchandise into every inch of space which makes it feel like a Ross experience with Nordstrom prices. I like coming here to buy educational materials for my son but it's easier to shop their catalog or online than roaming in their store. This is the original location you would think they would put more care and resources into it. read more

I wanted to find the perfect gift for my Grand Niece's first Hanuka. I used the age guide online but had left it too late to arrange delivery. I was happy to find this store within a reasonable distance from me. The staff there was very helpful in locating the item and even gift wrapped it for me. I had lots of fun browsing while they were wrapping things up. I was cheered to see that they had some very reasonable priced items as well as more deluxe toys. I will definitely be coming back. read more

Forget about the bars! If you're looking for a place where the girl/guy ratio is 40:1, here it is! Disclaimer: the age range here is 20-80. P.S. they also have great lesson plan books, esp their own Lakeshore brand. Apparently they're free with a coupon (which I didn't have :( ). They're not displayed so you have to ask for them! read more

Be prepared to pay a bit more for some items, but you'll get something good quality and educational. As a speech pathologist and a parent I have to restrain myself when coming here. Service is top notch too! Be sure to check-out the outlet store as well, we've gotten some great deals there! read more

Two stars because of just one employee at the magnet counter who snatched the magnet wand/stick from my 4 yr olds hands ! Yes kids will be interested in trying things kept out to try if you don't want them to or have "certain reservations for color" say so !!! And close the doors as kids don't understand your discriminations !!! The other employees in the store were super nice the guy at the volcano counter exhibit was really good and patient if it were not for that one employee I would give this place a 4 star Prices are in the higher range but the educational toys are really good . read more

I just love Lake Shore LEarning! The parking lot is super tiny and very difficult to back up from so park backing up so you can get out without running someone over. The staff is very nice and helpful. I came in one day looking for some winter vacation projects and came out with some really cool stuff that my little one and his cousin and even his great grandpa really enjoyed working on over winter break! The staff is so helpful sometimes too much but I would take that over being ignored any day! Make sure to sign up to get email coupons and catalog. I also want to add that they carry a lot of special needs toys and learning tools that I just love! read more

This is a great store! The staff is very friendly and helpful. My favorite this in the store is laminating machine (SCORE!). I can spend hours in here.The only problem is the parking lot is very small and it can be difficult to find parking or even get out of the parking lot due to the shape. read more

We love to come to Lakeshore Learning. They have so many wonderful, and educational toys and supplies. It is definitely more expensive than a Toys R Us, but the majority of the toys and arts and crafts aren't plastic noisy worthless toys. They are all educational and your child will spend hours using their imagination creating. The hardest part is picking and choosing because I want to buy everything when I walk in. This last time I was so excited to see a crayon set that was purely different shades of skin tone. It was 18-20 crayons of just skin tone! What a change from the days of my youth where there was one color- a pale, peachy-called flesh. This especially makes this Mom of a mixed family happy. The Staff is suburb! Always pleasant, always engaging, always a joy to talk to. I especially love the free arts and crafts on Saturdays from 11-3pm. My kids have a blast. It's a great place for birthday presents as well. It's nice to give a gift that isn't Disney themed and will fall apart after a week of play. read more

Nice corner store location, excellent selection of educational materials and supplies, and very helpful staff (especially with laminating!). :D Lakeshore is my go-to store when i need to get school materials for my children, or my child development center. It is on my way home from Livermore to Benicia. I've begun to give my godchildren Lakeshore gift cards, instead of typical toy store gift cards. They love discovering this place! I'm happy to be able to come here after work as they close at 7 p.m. during the week! I also love their sale tables! :D read more

When my sister got her first teaching job this year in Pleasanton, I knew right away I would visit this store to buy her some new supplies. This store has everything a Kindergarten teacher could possibly need! I bought a lot of Melissa & Doug puzzles and toys, many books, craft projects she can teach her students, name tag laneyards she needed for their field trips, organization bins for her tables, and toys for her prize box. Needless to say I was very pleased with their huge selection of and their great discounts! It is not the least expensive place to buy some of the items, but the weekend I visited the store they had a 20% off discount on almost everything I bought. All elementary teachers must visit this store!! read more

I love Lakeshore materials, but the service at this store is abysmal. I had a gift return (with receipt) and it took 45 minutes and 3 staff people to complete. They repeatedly insisted (with escalating attitude) that they couldn't complete the process without my giving them my email and physical address, which is ridiculous. I should be able to make a return without having to add myself permanently to your mailing lists, and if I decline (politely) it shouldn't be a DefCon Level 1 crisis. read more

I decided to sit in my car and write this review. I came in here with my daughter in hopes of adding to her learning wall. I walked in and started to look at a few things 1 of the workers came over and looked at me then turned around. Not even 5 minutes later a white woman comes in the same worker immediately goes over to her and asks her has she been helped. Wow! This is still the world we live in!! read more

Great place to find toys for the little ones. Problem is .. It's a tad bit too expensive. $30 for alphabet playmats made out of foam? Wth? But overall the shopping experience was great. Very helpful staff, lots of choices , and well organized . Problem is the aisles are too small. So shopping with a stroller might be difficult. read more

The parking lot is terrible, but with the blockbuster across the street closing, there are more parking spots available. The staff is very helpful, and incredibly willing to open and show you products- even if you don't buy them. The prices can be bad, but with the Teacher's Club Card, you get coupons which make things far more affordable, and the quality and return policy make it worth it. read more

This is a great place to come and get things that motivate the kids and keep them on track. My favorite things to pick up are stickers. There are a lot of different types of stickers to choose from. Everything from action heros to fruits/vegetables. Some are large and some are small stickers. The different types of stickers can help you to express yourself depending on what you are trying to motivate the kids to be excited about. There are very helpful. read more

This review is long overdue and I'll be upfront in saying that I went there for a specific item and wasn't concerned with anything else. I'm not a teacher in the conventional sense so my review should be taken as someone who just knows good customer service. In any event... that's what I'll comment on. The staff here is really helpful and very pleasant. I had a few seemingly stupid questions and they answered them without rolling their eyes and helped me find what I needed. They saved me in a pinch for an obscure item I needed within the hour and helped me as soon as I walked in the door. Couldn't be happier with this store - Thanks again! read more

Super friendly staff. Amazing toys and learning tools for toddlers and young children. A little pricey but you can be placed on their email/text list and receive coupons. read more

I am a person of habit, so naturally I prefer my original Lakeshore store in San Jose. :) Not their fault though. Their parking lot is a mess!!!! Too small. BUT I must admit that their layout inside seems to work out for me better. They also have an art workshop for free every saturday. FUNFUNFUN! The staff is super nice and friendly. Never seem annoyed. :) I had bought one of those dry erase books to teach the children how to write the alphabet. My daughter managed to scratch the dry erase off of one of the pages. They said I should just bring it over and exchange it. I mean, no receipt, no questions. How great is it to have a place that just guarantees their products so much? I like this place. read more

What is with the parking lot at this place? They must have an accident a day! Great selection of learning and developmental products, but crazy high prices! I found some of the stuff online for much less. Just be choosy when selecting items here. I've also heard that the San Leandro Lakeshore has a bigger selection (and bigger sale section). read more

A few days ago I ordered two items for my grandson. I didn't want to upgrade the shipping costs, so I just thought I'd give them to him after the holiday. This morning I received an email from Lakeshore saying that with everything that has gone on in our world in 2020, they wanted me to have my order by Christmas so they are paying the additional freight charges to get the items to me by Christmas. I am in shock. What a lovely thing to do. I feel valued as a customer and believe me, I appreciate that and will continue to purchase from this company. Thank you! read more

One box of colored pencils at Lakeshore---$12.00 TWO boxes of colored pencils at Target--$12.00 Buh-bye, Lakeshore. read more

Love it it's very helpful it's stay for ever what ever you buy,buy and return anything I like that a lot read more