10/30/2024
by Victoria Ritter
When Scott and Laura Gurley opened The Teachers’ Lounge in St. Louis, MO in 2007, they sought to set their store apart by offering quality customer service to local teachers and parents. The store stood the test of time and is now the only teacher supply store in the county.
Scott runs his own business building websites while Laura teaches third grade. Seventeen years ago, Laura’s colleagues informed her that a teacher store south of St. Louis had closed. The Gurleys briefly debated whether to start a new business or try for their second child; they ended up getting both.
“On the Friday when we went to sign the lease, Laura took a pregnancy test and was not pregnant,” Scott recalled. “So, we signed the lease. The next day, she was feeling funky. On Monday, she took another pregnancy test and we learned that she was pregnant with our daughter.”
The Teachers’ Lounge remained at its first location for five years, operating out of a 3,000-square-foot space. It then moved to its current location – which is 5,000 square feet – in a strip mall at 21 Ronnie’s Plaza in St. Louis.
A fine-tuned inventory
The Teachers’ Lounge offers 5,000 items in-store, including teaching materials, toys, games and books. The aisles are organized by subject, with decorative items displayed on the walls. Ten years ago, The Teachers’ Lounge added furniture to its inventory, and those sales have been growing over the past three years, according to Scott. The store’s sales rep visits schools to sell furniture.
“We have a lot in our special needs department,” Scott added. “It’s not the biggest department in the store, but it’s definitely growing.”
One of the most popular brands is Teacher Creative Resources, while Mavalus’ mounting tape is the biggest seller. “We’ve been promoting Mavalus for years and use their tape all over the store,” Scott said. “Our customers know that it’s right at the front counter. It seems like every customer buys a roll of Mavalus tape with every purchase.”
The Gurleys stock their shelves based on products recommended by sales reps and manufacturer catalogs. They attend ECRM’s trade show, plan to visit EDspaces every other year and attended Astra Marketplace and Academy this year. “I do miss the old WeConnect show in Florida,” Scott said.
The store is quick to pick up on trends. In particular, when fidget toys were popular three years ago – Scott calls 2021 “the year of the fidgets” – the Gurleys capitalized on the craze. They opened a small store adjacent to The Teachers’ Lounge and for three months had a location at a nearby mall solely dedicated to fidget toys. “In 2022, the fidgets were slowly going away,” Scott said. “By 2023, the fidgets had become just a small department in our store.”
The 600-square-foot space that once housed the fidget store is now a classroom. Laura and a few of the staff members host a week of workshops in June, with two to three sessions each day. About a dozen people attend to learn about how to organize classrooms and utilize digital tools such as Google Classroom, among other topics. Later this year, Scott plans to set up the space as a boutique featuring interactive demos of games and toys and holiday gift wrapping. “We’ll turn that classroom into a gift shop,” he said.
To give the store more visibility, Scott customized a website for The Teacher’s Lounge. Shoppers can peruse through 25,000 items in its catalog (many of which are Educators Resource products) and keep up to date on activities. Web sales account for a small percentage of the store’s overall profit, as the local business competes with Amazon and even its own vendors’ online sales. “Our website is more of a tool to learn more about why you should come shop at our store,” Scott stated. “We have pictures of the store, an events listing and our background.”
Promotions and prizes
The Gurleys know first-hand how much dedication, time and money teachers put into running their classrooms, so they seek to help where they can. One of the store’s most successful ventures is the Lounge Lizard Club, a rewards program that has been around since the store’s early days. With Lizzie the Lounge Lizard as the mascot, the club offers store credit for in-store purchases; access to email newsletters with specials, coupons and news; personalized purchase histories and more. The club has provided nearly $600,000 in rewards since its inception, with “tens of thousands” of teachers participating, said Scott.
“Within years of us starting the program, every other teacher store in the St. Louis area started a similar program,” Scott said. “I think it is one of the main draws because teachers are spending their own money at the store. Most jobs don’t require you to go out and spend your own money just to do your job, but teachers are expected to do that. This is our way of saying, ‘We’d like to help you out.’”
There are more reasons for customers to stop by The Teachers’ Lounge, as the store has three major events throughout the year. Its Preview Night in mid-June highlights new designs and products for the upcoming school year, with a fully-stocked store. Guests are treated to a red-carpet experience, as Scott greets every customer at the door in his tuxedo. Drawings take place every 15 minutes with prizes such as free lamination, gift cards and free products. Plus, everyone receives 25 percent off their total purchase.
“It’s a very busy night,” Scott said. “We ended up breaking it up into two nights. As there are a lot of Catholic schools in St. Louis, we have an Archdiocesan Preview Night and our regular Preview Night.”
During the annual Customer Appreciation Day, the first 100 customers receive a bag filled with product from vendors, with some containing a $25 gift card. The Gurleys bring in snacks and water for the morning. Customers are treated to free desk calendars and $10 off a $30 purchase. For every $10 they spend, they get a raffle ticket which they can submit for themed baskets. As an added bonus, The Teachers’ Lounge publishes a picture of the first customer of the day in its newsletter
“Our customers start lining up for that event at 5 in the morning – our store opens at 9 a.m.,” Scott commented. “It’s a crazy day.”
The year wraps up with Grandparents Day in early December. If a customer shows a picture of their grandkids, they receive 25 percent off of purchase.
“We’ve tried other things over the years, but we found that these particular events have been very successful,” Scott said.
Commitment to quality
The Teachers’ Lounge’s customer base consists of 85 percent teachers and 15 percent parents/grandparents. No matter who steps in the door, the staff – many of whom have teaching experience – are ready to help. The store employs 20 part-time workers, with an additional two to five employees hired in the summer. With Scott coming in once a week and Laura teaching full-time, the Gurleys trust their staff to operate the store and emulate a willingness to help educators.
The Gurleys understand that parents and teachers can order furniture and materials from other sources, so they want to make their store the most appealing and accessible option. Scott mentioned that they are considering opening multiple locations to expand their reach and fulfill educators’ needs.
“We train all of our employees heavily on customer service,” Scott said. “We make hires based on personality and having the heart of a teacher. Customer service is all that we talk about and preach about. Every policy decision we make is based on what is best for the customer, not what’s best for our bottom line. We try to be the resource for all teachers and schools in St. Louis.”
