“Speed limits are only a strongly worded suggestion.”
My buddy has a funny saying similar to this. He says that stop signs in malls aren’t real stop signs, they are just friendly suggestions.
Your friend is basically correct.
http://blog.timesunion.com/gettingthere/police-cant-enforce-most-parking-lot-stop-signs/1133/
There’s a shopping area near me that has stop signs and a smaller sign that reads “Please stop” are 3-4 pedestrian crossing areas within about 200 feet.
I’ve always maintained that they hold no legal prerogative and I always slowly roll through them. They are just there to alert drivers of pedestrians, as if they didn’t know they were in a parking lot.
The family that owns the chain of grocery stores is pretty powerful in our county and I’m guessing the presence of the signs is a hill the police don’t want to die on.