Review: LEGO 60347 Grocery Store

June 17, 2022 | 15

The LEGO City Summer 2022 wave has been a refreshing breath of fresh air, with a triumphant return to the simpler things in life – like a barn filled with animals, and for the first time in LEGO City history – a Grocery Store!

60347 Grocery Store is a momentous occasion for LEGO City. Despite rapid urbanisation, LEGO City has been plagued by crime and arson, with little room for anything else. Residential and commercial businesses are starting to come into focus, which has been a LONG time coming.

I guess LEGO Citizens looked across town to Heartlake City, and wanted some of that utopian quality of life, and all the amenities that you’d expect from an urban metropolis.

Another “first” for this set is the inclusion of the first LEGO minifigure with a modern prosthetic leg. You can read more about the significance of this, and get some perspective from someone who works in the field, as well as an Australian paralympian.

The set is available now in Australia, the UK and Europe, and will be available in North America from 1 August 2022. I picked mine up at Kmart Australia for AU$79, which was the cheapest available, about a 20% savings from the RRP of AU$100.

Let’s jump into a review of 60347 Grocery Store!

60347 Grocery Store Set Details

Name: Grocery Store
Set Number: 60347
Pieces: 404
Price: US$69.99 / AU$99.99 / £54.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [US] [AUS] [UK]
Exclusive to: N/A
Theme: LEGO City
LEGO Designer: TBD
Release Date: 1 June 2022 [AUS, UK, EU] 1 August 2022 [US]

One surprise that greeted me with the set – the sticker sheet which was a lot smaller than I expected!

You pretty much only have the Grocery Store signage, the be-ha-pea sign, an open sign and the car license plates. I don’t know why, but I expected way more stickers.

The LEGO Grocery Store comes with 5 minifigures, a complete cast of characters you’d expect from a supermarket scene. From the LEGO City Adventures TV show, we have Mr. Produce, a Pea-costumed mascot, forklift driver, and a customer and what I assume is his daughter.

It’s a decent amount of minifigures, but I really would’ve loved maybe 1 or 2 more minifigures, especially as this is quite a pricey set.

There’s also excellent gender-balance in the set, with females actually outnumbering males, which isn’t particularly common!

The highlight of this set is without a doubt the gentleman with the leg prosthesis – as mentioned earlier, it’s the first ever LEGO minifigure with a modern prosthesis. It’s based on a “c-curve style of a distally-mounted running blade foot”

This is a really fascinating new leg element, and incredibly well designed. Unforfortunately, the foot does not rotate and has a fixed orientation, but can swivel back and forth just like a regular leg.

This is such a well-designed element, as it matches the length of a regular minifigure late, and even has a hole on the inside for a stud to pop through, allowing the minifigure to well, function as if it were a normal leg.

And yes, this means the minifigure can sit almost normally, with the prosthetic leg being angled upwards.

Of course, like with any LEGO legs, you can pop them out, but because the prosthetic can’t be swivelled, this means that you can only use it as a left leg.

Fun fact, this is the very first LEGO prosthetic leg that’s a left leg – all previous prosthesis, from peg legs, to mechanical legs on Doctor Rodney Rathbone from Monster Fighters.

Here’s a look at a selection of famous LEGO minifigures with prosthetic legs, just to illustrate how unique the modern prosthesis looks like.

Of course, this means that if you use some of the older “right leg” prosthesis, you can create a double prosthetic leg – here’s hoping that LEGO produces a right version as well, so that disabled people that wear their prosthesis on the right can feel included as well.

Here’s the rest of the minifigures – there’s a forklift driver, Mr. Produce, a named character from LEGO City Adventures, a pea costume mascot promoting vegetables, and a little girl.

It’s a great cast of characters, with most roles that you’d expect from a grocery market filled. I particularly like the forklift driver’s new fluro-yellow safety vest and the return of the pea costume that we last saw in LEGO Minifigures Series 20.

Here’s a look at their back printing – only the forklift driver and Pea Mascot have dual-sided faces.

The Pea Mascot comes with this adorable sign, with a truly groanworthy be ha-pea pun, and super cute pea cartoons drawn on it.

Here’s the Pea Mascot without her suit – LEGO were nice enough to also include a black wig for her.

The little girl’s hoodie also contains a significant detail – the design, which has strips of light blue, pink and a solitary white strip is a subtle nod to the transgender flag design, another win for inclusion and representation in this set.

Here’s a look at the finished set. It was quite a straight forward build, and one that younger builders below the age of 8 can easily tackle, with some moderate assistance.

Structures have been somewhat of a rarity in LEGO City until recently (especially ones that aren’t on fire, or under construction), especially an actually useful commercial building like a Grocery Store.

The footprint of the set is quite large, accentuated by road plates, which you may or may not be a fan of. I don’t have a lot of City sets that utilise these road plates, so these were a first for me.

The parking lot attached to the side of the supermarket, and I love the parking sign, which I was surprised to discover was printed! I’m not sure if it’s an entirely new sign, or if it’s a reproduction of the one from 1999’s Road Signs set, but it’s always nice to come across printed parts.

Here’s how it looks like with the vehicles parked and included, filling out the space slightly.

There is one parking spot, for the owner – Mr Produce, and there is a cool little loading bay for the forklife.

Mr Produce’s electric vehicle (EV) is tiny, and cute, seating only one. There’s a license plate with the set’s number, and the letters JM, which I believe are the designer’s initial. No clue who this could be, but my research isn’t turning up anything solid.

It could be James May, but I don’t think he worked on this set.

The printed EV 1×1 tile is also nice – I wish it glowed in the dark!

And here’s the side – it’s a tidy little car, very much in the style of compact European vehicles, and love that it’s an EV – Mr Produce seems to be very environmentally conscious, driving an EV and having solar panels powering his grocery store.

There isn’t an EV-charger, which I think is a big miss, as I would’ve liked somewhere to plug it in.

Here’s a look at the forklift, which also has a similar-sized footprint, and has a bright orange colour scheme. It’s a neat looking vehicle, and there is some clever use of curved pieces for the sides.

Here’s a look at the back, which has some hazard lines, and how the forklift can tilt backwards. Thanks to elastic bands, you can lower the forklift, to pick up the crates containing veggies and fruit.

Both vehicles are great, City-scale and feel especially relevant to the build – not like random vehicles shoehorned in for play features or to bump up the piece counts of set.

They add a lot of valuable play features to the set, and kids will absolutely enjoy playing with the forklift.

The loading bay is integrated nicely into the grocery stores, with the flaps opening to allow crates to pass through.

It’s a small but very fun interactive play feature that works as you expect it to, and will be great for younger kids playing and loading up the grocery store with produce, and grocery staples.

Here’s a look at the facade, which is bright and vibrant with 2 shades of green, and I love the massive brick-built carrot on the outside, as well as the “fresh” logo.

Out the front are pails of fresh flower bouquets – the use of the tan ice cream cones make them look like they’re already wrapped in brown paper is nice. The stems, which look like a modified candle element have a little stalk that curve upwards which is pretty neat.

To the right are 2 crates – one for fruit and one for vegetables. You get a great selection, which includes apples, bananas, grapes, carrots and also 2 brand new ears of corn!!

Here’s a look at the new corn element which is a very cool new element. There’s a handle for the minifigure to hold, and it includes the corn husk, as well as the kernels, which are beautifully moulded.

In case you were wondering, here’s how Corn Cob Guy looks holding 2 stalks of corn. Too corny?

One of the fantastic accessories included is the return of the LEGO shopping trolley, this time in a bright shade of orange. It was previously available in green in 41362 Heartlake City Supermarket, so it’s nice to see this element make a comeback.

Here’s a better look at the shopping trolley, which is filled with the dude’s groceries.

One thing I like about the grocery store is the generous use of windows – the large panes are useful to give you a peek inside, and the clever use of layered colours – green, lime green, greys, and whites also make it stand out against the grey pavement and carpark.

Two solar panels are attached to the roof! You may remember these from the International Space Station.

Now come on it, and let’s take a look at the interiors!

Here’s a look at the Grocery Store from behind, which has an open back , allowing easy access to the insides.

The counter and cash register is quite basic – the printed slope tile is nice, but the orientation is a little confusing. It looks like a self-served counter, as it has a wireless payment terminal, or a slot to insert a credit card – this really should face the customer.

There’s also a small transparent container where 2 fish are just lying there.

In one corner of the supermarket, there’s an angled crate, packed with different coloured bottles. My daughter immediately identified these as “beer that daddy loves to drink”, which probably tells you a bit too much about my choice of beverages. For the record, I prefer gin.

Near the entrance are 2 bread crates, filled with croissants and different coloured baguettes. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen croissants in crates, left out in the open… do they do this in Denmark?

On the other side of the supermarket, is a bottle recycling station – like the EV, and solar panels, LEGO is trying to weave in sustainable elements into play through their LEGO City sets, and apparently, this bottle recycling station is a common fixture in Denmark (called Pant, which is Danish for deposit).

The recycled bottles go into this crate on the other side of the deposit machine, and the crate can also be transported via the forklift when filled up.

Here’s a look at the grocery store shelves, which are arranged into neat, white cubes filled with jars, orange juice, milk and tomato sauce bottles.

It’s very neat and tidy, so kudos to Mr Produce for great visual merchandising skills.

Here’s what it looks like with everyone in the grocery store, which is quite a squeeze and one of the main weaknesses of the set.

The interiors feel quite cramp, and it gets even worse when you have a minifigure inside with the shopping trolley.

Obviously, the loading bay takes up a lot of space, but when you compare it against 2016’s 41118 Heartlake Supermarket, the layout certainly suffers, and with a smaller selection of groceries and things to buy too.

And that concludes a routine visit to the LEGO City Supermarket!

What I liked:

• Finally – LEGO City gets a supermarket
• Excellent lineup of minifigures which champion diversity
• New Prosthetic Leg is awesome
• Plenty of interactive play features
• Decent, playable and relevant vehicles

What I didn’t like: 

• Could use another minifigure
• Interior and layout is quite cramped
• Feels a little overpriced for what you get

FINAL THOUGHTS:

60347 Grocery Store is a delight, and a long overdue addition to LEGO City. Kids are no doubt well-versed with the act of going to the supermarket or grocery store, and with this set, you get an all-in-one experience that does a great job of packing everything that you expect from a LEGO Grocery Store in.

There are great play features, from the forklift, to the loading bay, as well as a great bunch of well-rounded characters who all have a part to play.

For the price, I do wish we had at least one more minifigure to make it worth our while, but the debut of the disabled minifigure with the prosthetic leg is a bright point and huge draw for the set.

The car park and large footprint, make this seem like a larger set than it is, which is a good thing, and this is something you can quite easily integrate into any existing LEGO City layout, and it has never been a better time to have a grocery store for your citizens to do their shopping in.

The insides are a little cramped, especially when you try and squeeze everyone in, and I do wish there was slightly more stuff to buy on the inside, like we had in the excellent 41118 Heartlake Supermarket which made great use of the space it had.

That said, the large variety of produce, sustainable elements like solar panels, and bottle recycling station, and the inclusion of the very first LEGO minifigure with a modern prosthetic leg make for a toy that is not only fun to play with, but educational as well.

It’s a little expensive, so this isn’t a set I would recommend at full-price, but if you’re able to pick it up at 20% or more (which shouldn’t be too inconceivable as it’s a City set), it then becomes a more compelling buy.

More, like this LEGO! We absolutely need more useful buildings and locations like a Grocery Store to increase the standards of living in LEGO City!

Be sure to also check out this feature I wrote on why LEGO’s new minifigure with the prosthetic leg is so important for representation.

Rating and score: 4/5 ★★★✰✰

Build [3] – An accessible and unimposing build suited to young builders
Real Value [2] – Quite expensive at full price, and not a lot of brand new elements
Innovation [4] – Can’t believe it’s taken this long for a City Supermarket, and the new prosthetic leg element is brilliant
Coolness [3] – This set does a lot of things right, and as an adult, I do find some joy grocery shopping
Keepability [3] – A fixture of every suburban town, this is a fun one to keep, and has plenty of replayability

60347 Grocery Store is available now from LEGO.com in Australia, the UK and Europe, and will be available in the US from 1 August 2022 onwards.

What do you think of 60347 Grocery Store? What other types of shops or amenities would you like to see from LEGO City next?

In case you missed it, check out some of my recent LEGO reviews!

• Review: LEGO 60346 Barn & Farm Animals
• Review: LEGO 40567 Forest Hideout
• Review: 75315 Imperial Light Cruiser
• Review: LEGO 71772 The Crystal King
• Review: LEGO 76217 I am Groot
• Review: LEGO 21333 Vincent Van Gogh: The Starry Night
• Review: LEGO 41717 Mia’s Wildlife Rescue

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