diff --git a/src/zarr/core/buffer/core.py b/src/zarr/core/buffer/core.py
index 9ace4143f8..1367e651c3 100644
--- a/src/zarr/core/buffer/core.py
+++ b/src/zarr/core/buffer/core.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
+import datetime
 import sys
 from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
 from typing import (
@@ -106,7 +107,9 @@ def __eq__(self, other: object) -> Self:  # type: ignore[explicit-override, over
         """
 
 
-ScalarType = int | float | complex | bool | np.generic
+ScalarType = (
+    int | float | complex | bytes | str | bool | datetime.datetime | datetime.timedelta | np.generic
+)
 NDArrayOrScalarLike = ScalarType | NDArrayLike
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_api.py b/tests/test_api.py
index a034409509..0e2dccd343 100644
--- a/tests/test_api.py
+++ b/tests/test_api.py
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ def test_open_with_mode_w(tmp_path: pathlib.Path) -> None:
     assert isinstance(z2, Array)
     result = z2[:]
     assert isinstance(result, NDArrayLike)
-    assert (result == 3).all()
+    assert not (result == 3).all()
     z2[:] = 3