Cosplay is nothing new in Portland (the word comes from the combination of “costume” and “play” and refers to people dressing up as characters from TV shows, comics, and video games). We don’t have anything on the scale of San Diego’s Comic Con, but it’s not exactly unusual to see a couple of Jedi Knights, say, shopping at New Seasons on a given Saturday morning. But when we heard that there was going to be a Cosplay event happening at the Asian supermarket behemoth Uwajimaya in Beaverton, it turned more than a few heads. Was it a promotional event, given the prevalence of Manga characters among cosplayers? Would there be Storm Troopers stalking the rice cooker aisles searching for something that would work in the Death Star mess hall?

So I headed out on Saturday armed with a camera and some questions, namely: “what the heck?!” Assistant store director Warren Huch had an answer: “I was at home on a Sunday morning trying to find something for my family do on Facebook. As I scrolled down the list of events in the area I found a Cosplay Meet-Up group that was going to meet at a park in Portland. I thought why not have one here at Uwaimaya?”

Random? Yes. But kind of perfect, too. Here’s a slide show of monsters and cartoon characters chilling in the seafood section and rolling down the aisles.