Review: 41118 Heartlake Supermarket

Mia is taking time out from looking after her favourite animals to do her weekly shop at the Heartlake Supermarket (41118). Let’s check it out.

This set was provided by the AFOL Relations & Programs team (AR&P) of The LEGO Group for the purpose of sharing set details with fans.
Opinions provided here solely reflect those of our reviewer. 
Photographs are property of Friends Bricks and are not directed by TLG in any fashion.

The front of the box shows the front of the supermarket and the two mini-dolls featured - Mia and Daniel. Yay for a new boy mini-doll!



We can see from the standard purple flanges and ribbon wave across the top that this set belongs to the base theme and not a sub-theme. It looks like the supermarket is located near the new Heartlake Cupcake Cafe (41119).

The back of the box highlights the playing features and the accessories included, and that the building is hinged. I can’t wait to have a closer look at some of those printed tiles!



The side of the box gives us the usual warnings, including keeping the beautiful LEGO away from the 0 - 3 year olds.

 

Inside the box are:

• two instruction booklets
• a sticker sheet
• three numbered parts bags
• loose 8x16 and 16x16 Lavender plates, which are both unique in that colour.

Let’s take a closer look at the instruction booklets:



The front cover of the instruction booklets have the same main image as the set box, minus the inset showing the names of the two mini-dolls and the inset of the checkout counter.   Other than the booklet number, the front covers are identical.

Inside, the instructions are clearly laid out.



The back pages of the first instruction booklet have the full parts list and my favourite mini-doll, Emma, letting us know how we could win a free set. 

        

The back pages of the second booklet feature:

• a map highlighting the other new Friends sets
• the new sets that Mia is in
• screenshots of some of the new Friends apps
• sets in the Adventure Camp sub-theme.

       



Here are the parts that are found in Bag 1:



The parts that stood out for me in this bag were the Bright Light Orange and Bright Light Yellow half arches, which we know from the front of the box will become the awning for the supermarket. There are also a few printed tiles, but none of these are new or unique to this set.   There is a 1x2 panel with two sides in Light Bluish Grey. This style of panel is new to 2016 sets, but has been released in quite a few colours already and not just in Friends sets.

The first thing we build is the shopping trolley:



There are meant to be stickers to represent the mesh sides of the trolley, but I couldn’t bear to put a sticker on the new style panel piece.

There is also a bay to return the trolley to once the shopping is done:



The trolley itself ifs a little wider than two studs, which makes expanding the trolley return bay to hold two trolleys a little tricky. I think side by side trolley return bays would be required if the supermarket were to expand.

The final subset before moving on to the building itself is the newspaper and flower stand:



We don’t get very far with the building, with just the shell of the main building completed at this stage:

 

Here is where we get to at the end of the first bag of parts:



We’ll have a closer look at the mini-dolls later. For now, let’s see what Bag 2 holds.



The parts that caught my attention in this lot were the Green bowl piece (unique in that colour), Bright Light Orange curved pieces, printed cookie tiles, pineapple head and Medium Dark Flesh crate.  



The Tan cookies with the jam drop pattern are new to 2016 sets, but not unique to the Heartlake Supermarket.  They are also found in two Elves sets - Elvendale School of Dragons (41173) and The Secret Market Place (41176).

The first thing that we do with the parts in the second bag is finish the signage above the front entrance.  



It seems weird that these few pieces weren’t just included in Bag 1, especially when the next thing we build is the section of the supermarket that sits on the 8x16 plate.

 

This part of the build is packed with details, from the fruit crate outside to the baked goods, dairy and deli sections inside. It is hinged to the empty main section before we get to the last parts bag.  



Let’s see what goodies Bag 3 holds:



There were lots of goodies in this bag, including:

• 1x2 Reddish Brown chocolate tiles, which are found in only one other set (Emily Jones & the Baby Wind Dragon (41171))
• 1x1 round sushi tiles, which are only available in this set and Livi’s Pop Star House (41135)
• 1x2 double corner panels in Trans-Clear, which are unique to this set in this colour.

The first build from bag three is the grocery display which also includes the handle for locking the hinged side section into place. There was a noticeable gap at the top of the two sections:



We also finish the interior of the main part of the building, which includes the checkout counter, rotating display with beauty products, vegetables section and the other half of the deli section.



The details in this section are even better than the first section. The sushi looks good enough to eat and I would struggle to go past the chocolate bars at the checkout. The vibrant colours used also makes everything feel like it is really fresh.

This brings us to the two mini-dolls: Mia and Daniel.  Let’s take a closer look at Mia first :



Mia is wearing a Medium Azure layered skirt, Light Aqua tank top with a flower detail, and Dark Blue / Medium Azure shoes. The gorgeous Medium Azure skirt is new, but not unique to this set as it is also worn by Livi in the Pop Star TV Studio (41117). The tank top was previously worn by Emma while cruising in her Sports Car (41013), hanging out at the Heartlake Shopping Mall (41058) and manning the Tourist Kiosk (41098). It was also worn by Stephanie at the Heartlake Airport (41109). 

And the new boy in town, Daniel:



While Daniel is new to Heartlake City, he has wasted no time fitting in with the other boys and men in the city. He is sporting very familiar Dark Blue trousers with Tan Shoes. He has, however, chosen to wear a unique shirt, this being a short-sleeved, two tone polo in Orange with Bright Light Yellow top half and sleeves. He has an employee badge pinned to the shirt and a pen in the pocket.

Daniel has spiky Reddish Brown hair, and shares the exact same boyish facial features as Andrew from the Dolphin Cruiser (41015) and the Heartlake News Van (41056), David from the Heartlake Airport (41109) and Julian, who likes to hang out with Emma at the Heartlake Shopping Mall (41058).

As is common to the Friends sets, there is a great ratio of spare parts to parts:



Almost enough to stock another supermarket!

Let’s have another look at the set as a whole:



In terms of playability, there are plenty of things to buy and room to move around. The conveyor at the checkout makes it feel quite realistic. It works well closed or opened up.  



When I saw it like this, it just screamed to me to convert it to a 16-wide modular building to go with the rest of my Friends street. Stay tuned for that one.

There are not a large number of parts in this set, but tit does have some great parts. The printed tiles in this set are gorgeous, especially the new cookie, chocolate and sushi tiles. Great parts pack for stocking your own supermarket!

Thanks for reading! C&C welcome.

Note: All exclusive parts mentioned in the colours noted were applicable at the time this review was posted. Parts may be available in other colours and sets after the post of this review. Brickset and BrickLinkwere use to verify this information.