Review: 42680 Heartlake City Mini Supermarket

The grocery cart piece has been in three other sets, in Bright Green, Bright Orange, and Flame Yellowish Orange.

@yellowcastle said:
"If this had been Star Wars, it would have included 24 stickers and be priced at $39.99. :o)."

... And it would've been mostly grey.

I kinda like it. It's clearly for play, and not display, which is perfectly fine for the target audience. No stickers is a bonus. Simple but lovely supermarket. Some might even call it a corner shop... If they've heard it phrased that way before.

ESA’s don’t have the same legal rights to entry as service animals.

@ohrmazd said:
" @Hiratha said:
"ESA’s don’t have the same legal rights to entry as service animals."

Yes that is true, but at least in the US, you can’t discriminate against someone who claims that their ESA is a service animal. In my organization, which is the second largest Catholic Medical Organization in the US, you can only ask if the animal is a service animal and then what service it has been trained to perform. And if they answer both those questions correctly, that’s the end of the discussion unless the animal is otherwise disruptive. So if someone has an ESA but lies about the two questions, you have to take their word for it, even if it is clear it isn’t an actual service animal.

And people can buy fake service animal vests from the ‘net. And we can’t ask for documentation that the animal actually is what the patient says it is. I would imagine it’s pretty similar across the board at most businesses. Nobody at Wal-mart is going to risk their minimum wage job being sued because they discriminated against someone with a service animal.."

This isn’t a problem with ESA’s. It’s a problem with people lying. Which they can do with any household pet.

What would be the point of asking for documentation? There isn’t likely to be any. People can and do train their own service animals.

However, if the animal is clearly misbehaving in some fashion, you can still legally exclude them.

If it's a convenience store, where is all the beer? The cigarettes? The lottery machine? The kratom? The soda pop? In my experience with convenience stores—which is almost exclusively limited to going in to pay cash for gas to get a discount—that's at least 75% of the store's merchandise. I have always been under the impression that convenience stores exist for the convenience of people who want to kill and impoverish themselves. Poor Autumn.

I saw the picture and thought, "Great, stickers on circular tiles." Finding out that they're actually all prints was a pleasant surprise! If I didn't already have four Friends sets in my backlog, I'd be tempted to pick this one up. And @MeganL, I'm pretty sure that the cheese cheese was introduced with 71030-8.

The shopping cart piece isn’t very new at all, actually: it’s been around since 2019! https://brickset.com/parts/design-49649

@ohrmazd said:
" @Hiratha said:
"ESA’s don’t have the same legal rights to entry as service animals."

Yes that is true, but at least in the US, you can’t discriminate against someone who claims that their ESA is a service animal. In my organization, which is the second largest Catholic Medical Organization in the US, you can only ask if the animal is a service animal and then what service it has been trained to perform. And if they answer both those questions correctly, that’s the end of the discussion unless the animal is otherwise disruptive. So if someone has an ESA but lies about the two questions, you have to take their word for it, even if it is clear it isn’t an actual service animal.

And people can buy fake service animal vests from the ‘net. And we can’t ask for documentation that the animal actually is what the patient says it is. I would imagine it’s pretty similar across the board at most businesses. Nobody at Wal-mart is going to risk their minimum wage job being sued because they discriminated against someone with a service animal.."

It doesn't help that there's absolutely no documentation required beyond having your dog licensed with the city same as any pet dog. If there was a law regarding service animal vests, that would provide a means to crack down on any random pet owner being able to buy one. And the two questions you mention are all anyone is allowed to ask, by law. You can't ask the owner what disability they have, because that's considered sensitive private information. And it would be impractical to ask for a demonstration of the task involved, because some tasks require unpredictable triggers. Really the only way you can safely call BS on someone claiming a pet is a service animal is if it's the wrong species. And even that gets risky, because most people aren't aware that miniature horses are legally allowed to be service animals, in addition to dogs.

ESAs even used to be given the same freedoms as legit service animals under the FAA (who have full jurisdiction over commercial flights) until someone tried to bring a peacock onto a plane and they had to crack down on the abuse. That's now the one instance where you _do_ need to have some form of documentation, as service animal owners are now required to register with the airline in advance of their flight, or their animal will be subjected to the same restrictions as any pet dog (has to fly in a carrier, large ones go in the baggage hold, and you have to pay a hefty fee for their passage).

@PurpleDave said:
" @ohrmazd said:
" @Hiratha said:
"ESA’s don’t have the same legal rights to entry as service animals."

Yes that is true, but at least in the US, you can’t discriminate against someone who claims that their ESA is a service animal. In my organization, which is the second largest Catholic Medical Organization in the US, you can only ask if the animal is a service animal and then what service it has been trained to perform. And if they answer both those questions correctly, that’s the end of the discussion unless the animal is otherwise disruptive. So if someone has an ESA but lies about the two questions, you have to take their word for it, even if it is clear it isn’t an actual service animal.

And people can buy fake service animal vests from the ‘net. And we can’t ask for documentation that the animal actually is what the patient says it is. I would imagine it’s pretty similar across the board at most businesses. Nobody at Wal-mart is going to risk their minimum wage job being sued because they discriminated against someone with a service animal.."

It doesn't help that there's absolutely no documentation required beyond having your dog licensed with the city same as any pet dog. If there was a law regarding service animal vests, that would provide a means to crack down on any random pet owner being able to buy one. And the two questions you mention are all anyone is allowed to ask, by law. You can't ask the owner what disability they have, because that's considered sensitive private information. And it would be impractical to ask for a demonstration of the task involved, because some tasks require unpredictable triggers. Really the only way you can safely call BS on someone claiming a pet is a service animal is if it's the wrong species. And even that gets risky, because most people aren't aware that miniature horses are legally allowed to be service animals, in addition to dogs.

ESAs even used to be given the same freedoms as legit service animals under the FAA (who have full jurisdiction over commercial flights) until someone tried to bring a peacock onto a plane and they had to crack down on the abuse. That's now the one instance where you _do_ need to have some form of documentation, as service animal owners are now required to register with the airline in advance of their flight, or their animal will be subjected to the same restrictions as any pet dog (has to fly in a carrier, large ones go in the baggage hold, and you have to pay a hefty fee for their passage)."

Zac would definitely be much cooler if he had a therapy horse.

@Hiratha said:
" @ohrmazd said:
" @Hiratha said:
"ESA’s don’t have the same legal rights to entry as service animals."

Yes that is true, but at least in the US, you can’t discriminate against someone who claims that their ESA is a service animal. In my organization, which is the second largest Catholic Medical Organization in the US, you can only ask if the animal is a service animal and then what service it has been trained to perform. And if they answer both those questions correctly, that’s the end of the discussion unless the animal is otherwise disruptive. So if someone has an ESA but lies about the two questions, you have to take their word for it, even if it is clear it isn’t an actual service animal.

And people can buy fake service animal vests from the ‘net. And we can’t ask for documentation that the animal actually is what the patient says it is. I would imagine it’s pretty similar across the board at most businesses. Nobody at Wal-mart is going to risk their minimum wage job being sued because they discriminated against someone with a service animal.."

This isn’t a problem with ESA’s. It’s a problem with people lying. Which they can do with any household pet.

What would be the point of asking for documentation? There isn’t likely to be any. People can and do train their own service animals.

However, if the animal is clearly misbehaving in some fashion, you can still legally exclude them."

That was my point in my first reply. It’s lousy people who ruin it for everyone by lying and abusing the system.

@Hiratha said:
" @ohrmazd said:
" @Hiratha said:
"ESA’s don’t have the same legal rights to entry as service animals."

Yes that is true, but at least in the US, you can’t discriminate against someone who claims that their ESA is a service animal. In my organization, which is the second largest Catholic Medical Organization in the US, you can only ask if the animal is a service animal and then what service it has been trained to perform. And if they answer both those questions correctly, that’s the end of the discussion unless the animal is otherwise disruptive. So if someone has an ESA but lies about the two questions, you have to take their word for it, even if it is clear it isn’t an actual service animal.

And people can buy fake service animal vests from the ‘net. And we can’t ask for documentation that the animal actually is what the patient says it is. I would imagine it’s pretty similar across the board at most businesses. Nobody at Wal-mart is going to risk their minimum wage job being sued because they discriminated against someone with a service animal.."

This isn’t a problem with ESA’s. It’s a problem with people lying. Which they can do with any household pet.

What would be the point of asking for documentation? There isn’t likely to be any. People can and do train their own service animals.

However, if the animal is clearly misbehaving in some fashion, you can still legally exclude them."

In the US, there won't be any documentation because service animals don't require any beyond what a normal pet would need. However, if the owner does pull out any form of documentation that proves the animal is a service animal, you can safely call BS on them. Most likely it would be a certificate printed off the internet that only proves how gullible the owner is, as ESAs aren't legally defined, and anyone can set up a site that issues certification for pay.

Regarding the animal's behavior, I'm not really sure how that works, except on commercial flights. The FAA absolutely did implement behavior rules after the whole ESA fiasco, because there were incidents of dogs running up and down the aisles, defecating on the floor, and biting passengers. But I don't know if businesses are given such leeway, as it could be abused to intentionally discriminate against anyone with a disability who relies on a service animal.

@AllenSmith said:
"If it's a convenience store, where is all the beer? The cigarettes? The lottery machine? The kratom? The soda pop? In my experience with convenience stores—which is almost exclusively limited to going in to pay cash for gas to get a discount—that's at least 75% of the store's merchandise. I have always been under the impression that convenience stores exist for the convenience of people who want to kill and impoverish themselves. Poor Autumn."

If it has gas pumps, it's a gas station, not a convenience store. And an actual convenience store will usually have a very reduced selection of actual groceries. No produce section, but you can buy stuff like milk and packaged dinners, if you don't mind paying exorbitant prices for a lack of choice.

In Metro Detroit, cash/credit pricing on gas is every bit as much the norm as being required to prepay before they'll activate the pump. However, some gas stations allow you to run debit payments with the same discount as cash, and you can frequently do that right at the pump. Usually the only reasons I ever go inside of gas stations is because the pump I used was out of receipt paper, or the card reader on the pump wasn't functioning. The last time I remember going into a convenience store was pre-pandemic, when I was looking for a seasonal food item that was supposed to be exclusive to 7-Eleven, and I never did manage to find it. 7-Eleven's really the only convenience store chain I'm familiar with. Meijer and Kroger both frequently operate gas stations, but there's not much point in stocking them with any type of regular groceries since they're always adjacent to an actual Meijer supermarket or Kroger grocery store.

@ohrmazd

Which is not a problem with ESA’s as a group. The vast majority of people who have one aren’t lying to anyone.

@PurpleDave

Not requiring documentation is necessary. Requiring it would cut disabled people off from the service animal and rights they need.

A service animal trained by an organisation is likely to have some form of documentation - not a certificate, but a trained by x organisation to do y paper trail - but since that doesn’t apply to all service animals allowing people to ask for it would just give the wrong idea.

As far as behaviour goes: Anything that would be excessively disruptive from any animal. Wandering around not under control, growling, barking excessively when it isn’t part of their tasks, not being house trained, biting, etc. And for miniature horses there is of course a hard limit on whether they can fit into a space: They’re miniature for a horse but not that miniature for an animal, so there’s an extra “if the horse literally can’t reasonably fit you’re allowed to exclude” for them.

@PurpleDave said:
" @AllenSmith said:
"If it's a convenience store, where is all the beer? The cigarettes? The lottery machine? The kratom? The soda pop? In my experience with convenience stores—which is almost exclusively limited to going in to pay cash for gas to get a discount—that's at least 75% of the store's merchandise. I have always been under the impression that convenience stores exist for the convenience of people who want to kill and impoverish themselves. Poor Autumn."

If it has gas pumps, it's a gas station, not a convenience store. And an actual convenience store will usually have a very reduced selection of actual groceries. No produce section, but you can buy stuff like milk and packaged dinners, if you don't mind paying exorbitant prices for a lack of choice."

If it has gas pumps and a convenience store, it's a gas station with a convenience store. At least one of the 7-Elevens near me has (overpriced) gas. Very few gas stations lack a convenience store at this point. I can think of one offhand in my area which is still an actual service station. Convenience stores without gas stations are slightly more common (I can think of at least 2 or 3 nearby), but their primary purpose still seem to be to sell beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and soda pop, so I've never set foot in any of them. So I really wonder what vices the Friends are taking up.

@Hiratha said:
" @PurpleDave

Not requiring documentation is necessary. Requiring it would cut disabled people off from the service animal and rights they need."

I understand the logic behind the way the law is set up, but I also understand the problems that arise from the lack of regulation. In the US, we also have handicap license plates and cards that hang from mirrors to allow the bearers to legally park in handicap parking spaces, but you need medical documentation to obtain either, and failure to display either means you can't legally park in a handicap space. The goal is the same, which is to allow disabled individuals to operate in society to their best ability, but the system was set up recognizing that too little regulation will almost certainly invite abuse.

"A service animal trained by an organisation is likely to have some form of documentation - not a certificate, but a trained by x organisation to do y paper trail - but since that doesn’t apply to all service animals allowing people to ask for it would just give the wrong idea."

It would still be possible to require documentation in a way that any owner of a legitimate service animal could provide. You could get paperwork from your doctor and use it to apply for some sort of registration card. We already do still require service animals to be registered with the city as pets. The tradeoff is creating additional hurdles for people who need them in order to prevent illegitimate claims meant to abuse the system. If abuse becomes too prevalent, or causes too much harm, I could see this happening. As it stands, it's not enough of a pressing issue to have inspired legislation.

"As far as behaviour goes: Anything that would be excessively disruptive from any animal. Wandering around not under control, growling, barking excessively when it isn’t part of their tasks, not being house trained, biting, etc."

This is going to depend on how laws were written in each jurisdiction. It does appear that US law allows businesses to request immediate departure if the animal's behavior is disruptive, and movie theaters can even preemptively deny them entry if their training involves barking. Zoos can deny them entry into areas where they'd potentially come into direct contact with animals. They can be denied entry when it's simply not safe for the dog, like amusement park rides (but not the amusement park itself). And even service dogs can be denied entry on religious grounds. They do outrank dog allergies, however. If the two come into conflict, the person with allergies can be asked to either deal with it, or come back at a later time.

"And for miniature horses there is of course a hard limit on whether they can fit into a space: They’re miniature for a horse but not that miniature for an animal, so there’s an extra “if the horse literally can’t reasonably fit you’re allowed to exclude” for them."

I know miniature horses do have less protection under US law than service dogs, such as being legal grounds to deny an application to rent an apartment, but I don't know anything specific about where the line is drawn. And while they've got a bit more girth, the tallest aren't much taller than the tallest dog breeds, and it's possible for them to max out shorter than the most popular guide dog breeds. Part of the distinction may simply be how recently and infrequently they've been introduced as service animals.

@AllenSmith said:
" @PurpleDave said:
" @AllenSmith said:
"If it's a convenience store, where is all the beer? The cigarettes? The lottery machine? The kratom? The soda pop? In my experience with convenience stores—which is almost exclusively limited to going in to pay cash for gas to get a discount—that's at least 75% of the store's merchandise. I have always been under the impression that convenience stores exist for the convenience of people who want to kill and impoverish themselves. Poor Autumn."

If it has gas pumps, it's a gas station, not a convenience store. And an actual convenience store will usually have a very reduced selection of actual groceries. No produce section, but you can buy stuff like milk and packaged dinners, if you don't mind paying exorbitant prices for a lack of choice."

If it has gas pumps and a convenience store, it's a gas station with a convenience store. At least one of the 7-Elevens near me has (overpriced) gas. Very few gas stations lack a convenience store at this point. I can think of one offhand in my area which is still an actual service station. Convenience stores without gas stations are slightly more common (I can think of at least 2 or 3 nearby), but their primary purpose still seem to be to sell beer, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and soda pop, so I've never set foot in any of them. So I really wonder what vices the Friends are taking up."

Could just be regional differences, but I don't think I've ever seen a 7-Eleven with gas pumps (or even on a corner lot, which is where most gas stations are located), and I've certainly never seen nor heard of a gas station being referred to as a convenience store before. Gas stations around here only sell portable foods that can be consumed while on the road, so single serving junk food and beverages, maybe some hot dogs of indeterminate age, but not much that would require you to go home for consumption beyond alcoholic beverages, or that would require utensils to consume beyond maybe a clothespin to pinch your nose shut. Convenience stores would sell canned goods, boxed/dehydrated foods, microwaveable dinners, ice cream by the pint and carton, and multi-serving junk food and beverages. They have more in common with pharmacies than gas stations, with the prevalence of both the former and various "dollar" chains probably explaining why there aren't that many proper convenience stores in my area. And in NYC, they'd frequently be called bodegas, which is probably more what this is trying to emulate, even if the setting is the antithesis of NYC life.

What are the two holes in the bottom corner for? does it connect to another set?

Its a steal, I bought 2.
You can find it around as cheap as 12$ here.

Lovely set. It reminds me of Fabuland in its layout. The colors are a bit much as usual for Friends since 2022, but it's a winning set concept for sure. And it's at a very nice price point too!

@Iguanaboy said:
"What are the two holes in the bottom corner for? does it connect to another set?"

The entrance section has a 1x2 brick below the self-scanner with 2 pins on it. the section with the blue shelf with 2 holes has the holes on both sides of it, likely intended to connect multiples or custom expand it.

Great Set!! The Food Items alone make this worth it for me !!