Southern Women’s Show

I always come here every year and they always have something new and exciting! New vendors and old vendors. There are different booths and sometimes they give away cool stuff. I’ve gotten cups, pens, notepads, samples of things, toothbrushes, make-​up, almost anything. Also they have shows that they do like cooking shows and you can sample their foods. There’s also fashion shows and mother & daughter look-​a-​like contests. Very entertaining.
There’s all sorts of vendors from food dips, jewelry, passion parties, cooking accessories, home improvements, travel getaways, make-​up, department stores, etc. You can always get the best deals and gifts here as well. My fiancé’s family always buy perfume/​cologne every year and it comes with a big bag where you can engrave your initials on it. Pretty cool. This year, my future sister-​in-​law bought a perfume set and got a Rolling bag with her initials. You can’t get that at the mall department stores! Really good deal and pretty worth it. Of course you have to buy something, but it’s with every purchase! This year, I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have the perfume that I wanted this year. They had it all the other years, but somehow this year they didn’t. I guess I’ll try again next year. Other than that, there are pretty cool stuff to look for.

I have to admit every time I take my wife to The Southern Women’s Show I’m extremely impressed… There’s always something new to check out and many of the booths come every year… It just depends upon how well their booth does…
Whether you’re young or old man or woman there’s sure to be something there to your liking (I especially enjoy all of the food booths)…
If you’ve never been it’s worth checking out next year…

I’ve been going to this show for at least a decade. I did miss going for a few years when we lived in Orlando, but haven’t missed one since we’ve been back in Jax. The show comes in October every year (usually around the second week of the month) for a Thursday — Sunday.
There are so many vendors here and awesome deals can be found. There are local vendors as well as vendors from all over the south. One of the best deals to be found is on perfume and cologne. Just about any brand you can think of is there. They have huge gift boxes set up w/​great prices and they always offer extra gifts.
Honestly, the show isn’t as great if you don’t have money to spend. There’s a lot of shopping going on here and I love every second of it!
They also have cooking shows and celebrities every year. I’ve met some pretty cool people in the past.
One area of the convention center is set up with food exhibitors and there are plenty of samples to be had. Lot of good nom noms!
I have found the best day to go is Thursday. It’s the least busy of the days.
Tickets can be purchased at the door, but if you purchase them beforehand, they are cheaper. So each year, check the show’s website for where to pick up discounted tickets. Parking is $ 5. We always get there early enough to be able to park in the actual paved lot at the Prime Osbourne. If you get there later, you’ll have to park in one of the dirt lots surrounding the convention center (it’s still a $ 5 charge).
Bring your credit card and/​or cash, and a desire to shop your heart out and have fun!

This was the third year I’ve been to the Southern Women’s Show. Typically, I’m not one of those people who enjoy paying to be a consumer, so I was super happy to score a set of free tickets from a friend.
Held at the Prime Osborn Convention Center, the show is a huge draw for ladies (mostly) and gentlemen around the area. The show takes up the entire center so be prepared to be there a few hours!
Comfort tips:
(1) Wear comfy shoes. Seriously, the convention center is pretty big. You’ll do a lot of walking and standing in line if you intend to see the entire show. It’s worth it.
(2) Bring cash for parking. I always part in the grass field across from the center. I find it easier to get in/​out and it’s closer which is helpful for my mom who has arthritis in her knees. Parking was $ 5. It’s worth it to me.
(3) Bring a comfortable shoulder bag. I brought a large, lightweight reusable tote. If you intend to shop, bring a bag! You can buy reusable bags and some vendors give out shopping bags, but if you have a large bag you love bring it. A few people commented on my bag as I was walking around with everything I bought.
(4) Ladies — a cross body purse is your friend. And make sure you can secure but easily get to your money.
Shopping Tips:
(1) Check the schedule. There are often freebies every day of the show but you have to know when/​where they will be. We arrived Saturday just in time to score a free scratch off lottery ticket. We also planned our foray into the food area in time to enjoy our free ice cream and watch a cooking demonstration.
(2) Perfume! If you like perfume, buy it here. The sets are the same price, however you get at least 3 freebies with each purchase — more than you would on Black Friday. I bought my mom a perfume set and her freebies were: full size bottle of lotion in the scent she chose, a large Calvin Klein tote bag, a scarf, and a cosmetic bag. I also bought a perfume set and received deluxe samples in a different scent, a tote, and cosmetic bag.
(3) Coupons! Coupons are available online for many different vendors. For example, I bought a really cool belt last year. This year I had a coupon and saved $ 5 buying another one.
(4) Try it out. Don’t be afraid to walk around with a perfume or lotion, etc and try it out. If you like, go buy it, but don’t be afraid to try it and avoid the pressured sales pitch.
(5) Make a junk email address. For many of the freebies, you need to provide contact information for future marketing purposes. So, if you don’t like a bunch of emails on your primary account, make one just for this type of stuff so you can avoid the emails if you want to.
(6) Take the freebies. Seriously. They are everywhere, it’s why people pay to get it, the companies know it and are fine with it. If you can’t use it, I bet a friend or co-​worker can. So wait in the line, grab the stuff, and use it or pass it along.
Highlights from this show: Walgreens was the sponsor for the food arena. They had flu shots available, massages, etc. Glory foods had their usual tasting available, but also Tasty Cakes, Milke’s Hard lemonades and Seagrams wine coolers. For purchases, I really enjoyed Dante’s sterling silver and got some really cute jewelry and I think half the show purchased bamboo pillows. They’re really supportive!
Can’t wait for next year!

As we have for many years now, my mom and I hit the Southern Women’s Show this past Saturday. We’ve learned to expect a super crowded Prime Osborn but this year it seemed less crazy than usual. There were still a lot of people there but I think they were competing with a lot of other events and some beautiful weather. We purchased tickets ahead of time at Walgreens for $ 8 (it seems that every year there is some sort of promotion to get cheaper tickets), got our free magazines (I know they had this last year but they added a new option of Rachel Ray’s magazine this year), and headed in. We got the same free Belk bags as usual, courtesy of some hunky Marines and made our way.
The event was pretty typical of what we’ve come to expect (I don’t mean that in a bad way). Lots of fun products/​ideas, coupons, freebies, and serious sellers. As usual, lots of the vendors are on the aggressive side but hey, do what you gotta do. My favorite area (of course) was the room off to the side that contains most of the bigger food vendors. Glory Foods is there every year and I love their samples. This year Walgreens had a huge area in that room with everything from donuts to booze. The Blue Bell ice cream booth was super popular (the rice tent probably gave away many more samples than they would have had they not been in the ice cream line!) for obvious reasons, too.
We picked up a few good coupons and made a couple of purchases (V-​toe socks, a really cool pair of socks that work perfectly with flip flops being put out by some locals and a Jacksonville Magazine «Keep Calm and Jax On» shirt) before heading off to Riverside Arts Market and Tres Leches. Not a bad way to spend a few hours on a Saturday morning.

The show this year was a lot of fun. They had so many vendors and it was jam packed on Saturday. The food area was well organized and the one food demonstration I went to actually had a ton of samples so no person was left out. That’s an awesome plus Which was different from other years. Parking was easy to find as there were tons of signs and it was only $ 5! Overall I’d say the show was a great success because we walked out with lots of freebies and great purchases! :-)

I absolutely love when this show comes every year.
Depending on when you go, parking can get hectic. This year they had valet parking for $ 10. I didn’t take advantage of it because it was early enough in the day so parking was not difficult. Regular parking is $ 5. I met some friends at the ticket booth and ventured in. Most of us already had our tickets purchased from Walgreens for $ 8.
As we walked to where the vendors were we were handed a Belk shopping bag. I guess they expect that everyone will walk away having purchased something and I can see why. This place is huge with vendors selling everything marketed for women: jewelry, clothing, cosmetics, beauty services, kitchen gadgets, self defense, home improvement, food products, medical services and counseling, even a fortune teller was there. We stopped at the stage to watch a rescued dog fashion show. How cute! I got my eye brows waxed and bought some fantastic dips I can’t wait to try at home.
The most interesting thing I saw this year was that Walgreens was there in the cooking area. They were doing manicures and allowing adults to sample Mike’s hard lemonade. Odd, I’m glad they were there.
I’ll definitely try to go every year because it’s a lot of fun!