Ever since I played with LEGO® sets as a kid, some 30 plus years ago, many of them used large studded sheets more commonly known as baseplates. These much-loved LEGO pieces have remained an important part of LEGO play and more so display, ever since. That was until this year. Introduced alongside many of the new LEGO City sets is a brand-new road system. In place of the large baseplates is a smaller, sturdier and modular road system. These new road elements are also customisable, which is most evident in the LEGO City Shopping Street set. Even those most shops are still closed here in the UK, LEGO City is open for business so let’s take a stroll down the Shopping Street in my latest set review.
Product Description
This premium multi-model LEGO® City Shopping Street (60306) playset is bursting with exciting features and functions. There’s a bakery, bike shop and park with an outdoor training centre. Kids also get a toy cargo bike, sports car and a service truck with a cherry picker, plus 6 fun minifigures. And with the included LEGO City Road Plates, kids can connect to other playsets to expand their city – just the way they like it!
The LEGO City Shopping Street playset comes with an easy-to-follow building guide that helps youngsters experience the pride of constructing their own LEGO toys. Kids, friends and families can join for a fun building experience and endless hours of imaginative play.
- Set Name: LEGO City Shopping Street
- Set Number: 60306
- Pieces: 533
- RRP: £59.99/$69.99/€69.99
- Measurements: measures over 5 in. (13 cm) high, 16 in. (40 cm) wide and 11 in. (28 cm) deep
- Minifigures: Six LEGO City Minifigures
- Availability: LEGO.com, LEGO Stores & LEGO Retailers
The Build
This is another LEGO City set that uses the new ‘Build Together’ instructions. This splits the build into separate stages, with each of the bags representing one part of the build. The instructions are the same with each bag having its own instruction booklet. The idea behind this is that the set can be built in a group, with each person taking on one bag of the build. It’s a nice concept, especially in these times with families still spending a lot of time together. Although the build is split across five bags, it’s actually made up of seven sections. Two vehicles, the road section, a bakery, a bike store, an outdoor gym and the Minifigures.
The two vehicles are fairly standard for the LEGO City theme and include a cool looking sports car. The yellow and black colour scheme combined with the curved plates resulting in a flash looking car. The second vehicle is a City Services truck, which ties into the new glow-in-the-dark street lamps. The part of the set has a surprising amount of elements in it and is just as complex as the two buildings. It features a raisable arm, which can be used by the worker to reach the lights. There are two barrier sections that can be stored in the back of the truck and you’ll also find a small unit that has two additional glow-in-the-dark 1×2 plates.
Considering the set is called a Shopping Street, there aren’t many retail outlets to enjoy. The smallest section lining the road is an outdoor gym or as the set description describes it – an outdoor training centre. This features an orange frame with a couple of pull up bars, so not exactly a training centre. Whatever it’s called, it’s set within a tiny grassy area along with a bench and that all-important dog poo, even though there are no dogs featured in the set.
Next to the outdoor section is a small cafe bakery. As mentioned above the inside is very small and features limited detail. There’s a small counter, with an odd pretzel tree on it and a box of baguettes, but the best part of the bakery is a neat little coffee machine. The outside is a little more detailed with a green and white striped canopy lining the roof. The signage above the shop and the menu next to the seating area are both stickers. There’s also a great bike stand that uses the Minifigure ring accessory element, the first feature in the Marvel sets, as a place to park a pushbike.
The final building, which is a bike store, is by far the best part of the whole set. Again the interior isn’t overly detailed, but is a little larger than the bakery, due to the curved display window. This features a bicycle on a turntable, with a helmet display just behind it. There’s also a very basic till point. But it’s the roof of the shop which makes it for me. This is built like a small mountain range, which then has a mountain bike mounted on it. It’s a great use of parts which helps give the bike store a very unique look.
All three of these areas can be connected to the new road plates. Which are the real focus of these sets. There are three road pieces included in the set, which include two 16×16 road sections and a smaller crossing section. The various connection points allow you to add stuff like road markings, speed bumps and ramps. The whole road is also lined with a cycle lane. This includes a unique printed tile with a bicycle symbol.
As much as the set is a vehicle to highlight the new road plates, the entire set is very much focused on inner-city cycling. There is of course the cycle lanes and bike shop, along with the bike stand in front of the bakery. But there is also a trio of bike-based modes of transport. There’s a mountain bike used on the roof of the bike store and a traditional bicycle on display in the store. Both of these use frames in colours only found in this set. The third bike-like vehicle is a cargo bike, which is a bike with a box-like section on the front of it. This uses a newly introduced piece first used in 2019 and is featured in yellowish-orange only in this set.
The Minifigures
Unlike some of the recent LEGO City sets, the Shopping Street is not based on the Adventures TV show. So the various characters included with the sets are all generic yet relevant to the City theme. There are three workers including a baker, a city worker and a bike store owner. They are joined by three citizens who include a Grandad and his Grandson and a chap who likes to look after himself. None of these uses any rare parts.
Overall
LEGO City sets have been providing builders with an odd mixture of builds over the years. From the seemingly ‘samey’ offerings of Fire and Police sets, it often falls to the various sub-themes to offer something a little different. That is two-fold with these new ‘Connect Your City’ sets as they are also the showcase for the new road plate system. The Shopping Street suffers a little due to this. In a similar fashion to the Family House set, the focus on including the road plates, means the buildings are a little minimal. However, they feature enough detail on the exterior to more than make up for the lack of interior. The outside of the Bike Shop is particularly cool and the small mountain range-like signage on its roof looks amazing. If nothing else the set does a great job of showing how the road plates can be introduced into cityscape builds. Replacing the much-loved baseplates has caused some concerns and rightly so. If you are one of those lucky few who have crafted amazing brick-built cities using Modular Buildings and other LEGO City, the old baseplate roads will most likely play a huge role in their set-up. The new roads are a big enough change to completely affect your layouts, should you wish to switch to them. As a singular set, the Shopping Street has a number of neat details from the outdoor gym to the detailed shopfront of the Bike Store.
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This set was requested by BricksFanz and provided by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing the set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
