Women's Lifestyle Expo returns to Mercury Baypark on 19-20 September with 130 exhibitors

The Tauranga Women's Lifestyle Expo is a two-day consumer exhibition held at Mercury Baypark, Mount Maunganui, on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 September 2026, open 10am to 4pm on both days. The organiser's event page lists 130 exhibiting companies across gourmet food and beverages, fashion and beauty, jewellery, health and wellness, gifts, art, homeware and eco-products, alongside a Taste Zone described as a mini food show. A free seminar programme runs at 11am, 12pm, 1pm and 2pm each day, with the organiser indicating beauty, health and financial-advice topics; the speaker schedule was still listed as to be confirmed at the time of writing, and the exhibitor list is signalled for publication in early September.

Who runs it

The expo is run by NZME Events, the events arm of NZME — the womenslifestyleexpo.co.nz site carries an NZME Publishing Ltd footer, and exhibitor enquiries route to the NZME Events team. On NZME's own corporate site the company describes the Women's Lifestyle Expo as a two-day event staged in seven regions across New Zealand — Wellington, Palmerston North, Hawke's Bay, New Plymouth, Hamilton, Tauranga and Christchurch — with each edition carrying between 100 and 180 exhibitors. NZME Events also runs the Home & Lifestyle Show in Northland, Manawatū and Whanganui.

The organiser's calendar page shows two editions remaining in 2026 — Tauranga on 19-20 September and Christchurch at Wolfbrook Arena on 10-11 October — with a full seven-city 2027 season already signposted.

Who it's for

This is a consumer-facing event rather than a trade show: the organiser positions it as a day out built around shopping, sampling and demonstrations, and advises visitors to allow roughly two hours to browse the stalls. The business-events interest sits on the other side of the aisle — the exhibitor base is predominantly small and medium consumer brands using the expo circuit as a direct-to-consumer sampling and sales channel across multiple regions in a single season. NZME Events pitches it to brands on exactly that basis, and the same 130 stands represent 130 businesses buying regional exhibition space.

The venue

Mercury Baypark sits at 81 Truman Lane, Mount Maunganui, Tauranga, and is operated by Bay Venues. The expo occupies Mercury Arena. Bay Venues states that up to 350 stands can be accommodated across the University of Waikato Sport & Recreation Centre and the Lion Foundation Centre within Mercury Arena — a combined carpeted area of 6,932 square metres — with a clear-span truss system, natural light and direct exhibitor access. The Lion Foundation Centre alone is a 2,400 square metre space housing three full-size indoor courts and a recessed stage, with published capacities of 3,716 theatre-style, 1,500 banquet, 4,400 cocktail, 780 cabaret and 500 classroom. A smaller option, the Mercury Stadium Lounge, offers 740 square metres and up to 40 stands.

Parking is free and on site — the venue's exhibitions page cites 5,000 free on-site car parks, and the expo organiser directs visitors to enter via Entrance 1 and park at Carpark A. Bay Venues states the site is fully accessible with lifts to all second-floor areas, has four pay-to-use EV charging stations in Carpark A, complimentary venue-wide Wi-Fi, bike stands at the Mercury Arena main entrance and an on-site first aid room. Catering rights are held exclusively by Bay Catering and Bay Audio Visual is the official technical provider for all events at the venue — both material constraints for any organiser planning an event here. The venue's footer carries a BEIA member badge.

Why it matters for New Zealand business events

The honest framing is utilisation, not delegate spend. A 130-stand consumer expo does not generate conference room nights, but it does put a large regional arena to work on a September weekend and it fills a meaningful share of Mercury Arena's exhibition capacity. Bay Venues' own what's-on listings show the expo sitting in a dense spring-to-summer run alongside the Zespri AIMS Games, the Bay Home Show, the Tauranga Art Show, Diwali Mela and the HoopNation Tauranga Classic — the mixed-use pattern that keeps a council-linked multipurpose venue viable between conference and sporting bookings.

The series-level point is the more interesting one for the sector. NZME runs the same format through seven regional centres, which makes it one of the more consistent sources of recurring exhibition-space demand outside the main-centre convention venues, and a repeat customer for arenas in Palmerston North, New Plymouth, Napier, Hamilton, Tauranga and Christchurch. For exhibition contractors, regional venue operators and small brands building a stand-based sales channel, that circuit is the practical entry point into the New Zealand exhibition economy.